Lupita Nyong’o to star in Danai Gurira’s ‘Americanah’ adaptation

The Oscar-winning Nyong’o is teaming with The Walking Dead‘s on HBO Max’s 10-episode limited series adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling novel.

Gurira will write the pilot and serve as showrunner, while Nyong’o will star.

Both will serve as executive producers.

Nyong’o will play Ifemelu, “a young, beautiful, self-assured woman raised in Nigeria, who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate Obinze,” per Variety.

“Living in a military-ruled country, they each depart for the west, with Ifemelu heading for America, where, despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple for the first time with what it means to be black.

Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous undocumented life in London.”

Nyong’o says of the HBO Max adaptation: “Americanah has been a passion project for me since I read Chimamanda’s beautiful novel in 2013. It’s a tale that is simultaneously timely and timeless. HBO Max is the perfect partner to bring this profound and celebrated story to life, and I’m thrilled that Danai will bring to the project her intelligence, wit, and understanding of the stories and the worlds of Americanah.”