Emmy-winning Nigerian American actress Uzo Aduba will be joining the cast, alongside British Nigerian actor Zachary Momoh. Lupita Nyong’o who bought the rights to the book and will be playing the main character Ifemelu. Actress, Danai Gurira will be the showrunner for the HBO Max acquired rights.
Americana is a masterpiece novel by popular Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie.
Lupita Nyong’o as Ifemelu
Ifemelu is a strong-willed, self-assured woman who, as a teenager growing up in Lagos, falls in love with the quiet, dreamy Obinze. However, their country is under dictatorial military rule and, amongst other anomalies, university lecturers are perpetually on strike. Ifemelu departs for the US on scholarship. In the US, Ifemelu experiences gains and disappointments, all the while tottering under the weight of a concept she had been unfamiliar with race.
Uzo Aduba as Aunty Uju
Uzo Aduba will play Aunty Uju, Ifemelu’s young, ambitious aunt and confidante. Aunty Uju is also a brilliant medical doctor who relocates to the United States in search of a better life for herself and her young son, Dike.
Zachary Momoh as Obinze
Zachary Momoh plays Obinze. Obinze is an idealistic young man and a visionary, the only son of a literature professor with a deep admiration for America. Obinze encourages his girlfriend Ifemelu to accept her scholarship in the US, hoping to join her for postgraduate studies. But despite his qualifications, he is persistently denied entry into the US. Disillusioned, Obinze plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in the UK. Three years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in newly democratic Nigeria with deep-seated disorientation and constant yearning for the unknown.
Danai Gurira
Gurira is the pilot writer and showrunner of the series. This is the third collaboration between her and Lupita, who appeared in Eclipsed and Black Panther.
There is no official date for the release of the Americanah series yet.
Source: brittlepaper.com
