HBO Will Reportedly Produce Nnedi Okorafor's 'Who Fears Death,' With George RR Martin
By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 10, 2017 9:18PM
We got some big news on the HBO fantasy-novel-adaptation beat today, some that was only tangentially related to George RR Martin. Celebrated sci-fi scribe Nnedi Okorafor announced on social media that HBO is developing her 2010 novel, Who Fears Death, for a series, with Game of Thrones author Martin to co-produce.
Who Fears Death "has been optioned by HBO & is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer," Okorafor wrote Monday morning on Twitter.
My novel WHO FEARS DEATH has been optioned by @HBO & is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer. pic.twitter.com/POF7Dj2hWP
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD (@Nnedi) July 10, 2017
Mara Mikialian, a media-relations spokesperson for HBO, was not able to confirm the deal when asked by Chicagoist. The deal is technically not official yet, Variety reports, citing sources.
The acclaimed novel charts the tale of Onyesonwu, a sorceress and child of rape who undertakes a journey of justice in a fictionalized post-apocalyptic African future. Nicole Lamy in the New York Times Book Match called Who Fears Death "an ambitious, sprawling true science fiction novel that grapples with race and gender."
As the Tribune points out, Okorafor has strong Chicagoland roots. She graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School and the University of Illinois at Chicago. And that tweet is definitely geo-tagged to Homewood, so we'll gladly claim her.
Okorafor noted on Facebook that the series adaptation has been "four years coming."
"I am very involved," . "I also know George well (we met in 2014 and stayed in touch); he’s been a sort of mentor to me through all this. And all those involved know what this story is; Onyesonwu is in good good hands."
HBO recently confirmed that it had struck a deal to bring Brown Girls to the small screen. Kudos to the network execs for laudably engaging with Chicago-area creatives of color.
We'll let you know as soon as word becomes official from HBO and more details emerge. Meanwhile, in other George RR Martin news, the seventh season of Game of Thrones debuts on July 16—which if you read this post, you probably already well knew.