Tomi Adeyemi, author of the bestselling YA fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone, has publicly stepped back from the upcoming Paramount Pictures film based on her book — despite having co-written the screenplay and serving as an executive producer on the project.
In a series of posts shared to Instagram and TikTok, Adeyemi addressed fans who had noticed her silence around the film in recent months. “There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” she wrote, adding simply, “That's all.”
Tomi reveals she has deliberately avoided the finished movie altogether. In one post, she confirmed she hasn't watched it and doesn't intend to, describing the admission as something that had been ‘painful’ to keep from fans. She closed her message with an apology to anyone who assumed her silence meant she didn’t care, insisting her loyalty remains with her readers rather than the production.
Tomi redirected fans toward supporting her directly, encouraging them to buy any book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy from an independent children’s bookstore, specifically naming Books of Wonder in New York City.
Among the most striking material Tomi shared was a screenshot of a message she’d apparently sent to Amandla Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari in the film. The note, dated to around February 2025, bluntly told Amandla not to invoke Tomi’s name in interviews or videos, and not to contact her — text or otherwise. It appears Tomi has since blocked Amandla.
The timing lines up with a period when Amandla was responding to backlash over her casting. Some fans had argued that Amandla — who is lighter-skinned — didn't match the book's description of Amari as having ‘dark copper skin’, and pointed to concerns about colourism in the casting process. Tomi had publicly defended the casting at the time, which makes her apparent falling-out with Amandla roughly a year later all the more notable.
Adeyemi pushed back firmly, stating that all final creative decisions belonged to the director, and that anyone who'd been told otherwise "was lied to on purpose." To another fan expressing disappointment, she wrote that she had "tried everything" to make the situation work. Adeyemi did not discourage fans from seeing the movie when it's released — she simply made clear she wants no personal association with its promotion. Children of Blood and Bone — inspired by West African mythology and Yoruba culture — follows Zélie Adebola, a young ‘diviner’ who sets out to restore magic to the kingdom of Orïsha after it was violently stripped away by a ruthless king.
As of this writing, neither Paramount nor anyone else involved in the production has issued a public response to Adeyemi's comments. The film is currently scheduled to open in theatres on January 15, 2027.
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