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Tomi Adeyemi’s Hollywood dream turned into a nightmare. 

In 2017, Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood and Bone was the subject of a massive bidding war, with both publishers and studios fighting to secure rights to the African-set fantasy. The book hit store shelves in 2018, but the movie adaptation was slower to materialize. 

Now, after years of stops and starts, the magical world Adeyemi created on the page is finally coming to the screen. Children of Blood and Bone hits theaters in January 2027, with an all-star cast including Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Amandla Stenberg, and Idris Elba (among others). But Adeyemi wants nothing to do with it. 

Tomi Adeyemi said she left ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ set ‘sobbing’ 

In a series of viral social media updates in July, Adeyemi publicly distanced herself from the movie, on which she’s both a screenwriter and an executive producer. She strongly hinted at a major falling out with Stendberg (whose casting was controversial) and said that the movie’s production left her traumatized. 

In a five-minute TikTok video that’s since been deleted, she called the adaptation “the worst thing I have ever had to live through.” She said she left the set “hyperventilating and sobbing” and suffered “severe somatic pain and so many panic attacks” after her return home. 

Adeyemi had previously made multiple posts talking about how excited she was to see her story come to the big screen. Fans were left baffled by the about-face and vague comments about being “antagonized” by people involved in the production. Meanwhile, Hollywood insiders were stunned by her behavior. 

‘Children of Blood and Bone’ director is ‘a saint,’ insider says 

As a first-time author, Adeyemi had a rare deal that gave her a great deal of creative control of the Children of Blood and Bone movie. But her comments – and the fact that she’s cycled through multiple agencies and recently switched managers – suggest that there’s some serious drama behind the the scenes, sources told Vanity Fair. 

“There must be something [going on] because she’s burned every bridge,” an insider told the publication. 

A person who worked on the movie said director Gina Prince-Bythewood had to manage a complicated situation. The Woman King director ultimately was granted a co-screenwriting credit for Children of Blood and Bone – something directors usually don’t receive. 

“The relationship management that Gina has done—Gina’s a saint basically,” the person shared. “That’s who I feel worst for in all of this: Gina, because she’s done so much.” 

Experts also said that Adeyemi’s very public disavowal of the movie could hurt it at the box office, especially it her fans refuse to watch the film as a result. 

“It’s so sad because she has the platform that basically nobody else has at this point,” one person said. 

If Children of Blood and Bone underperforms, it could doom adaptations of the other two books in the series. Adeyemi’s comments have sent “a chill through both the YA community and Hollywood on the franchise’s prospects,” noted Vanity Fair. 

Children of Blood and Bone is in theaters on January 15, 2027. 

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