Amandla Stenberg addresses the controversy surrounding her casting in ‘Children of Blood and Bone’
Following mixed reactions on social media, actress Amandla Stenberg took to TikTok to address the controversy.
Film adaptations of beloved books are always a gamble. While fans may be excited to see their favorite stories come to life on the big screen, meeting their expectations is the real challenge. Recently, the upcoming film adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times best seller “Children of Blood and Bone” sparked controversy on social media following its casting announcement earlier this year.
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and produced by Paramount Pictures, the film boasts a star-studded lineup, including Thuso Mbedu as Zelie, Amandla Stenberg as Princess Amari, Damson Idris as Prince Inan, Tosin Cole as Tzain, Viola Davis as Mama Agba, Cynthia Erivo as Admiral Kaea, Idris Elba as Lekan, Lashana Lynch as Jumoke, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as King Saran.
While many celebrated the impressive cast, others were disappointed that the film didn’t take the opportunity to spotlight more Nigerian actors, given the book’s deep roots in Yoruba culture. Beyond concerns about inauthentic Nigerian accents, a major point of contention was the casting of Stenberg, a light-skinned actress, as Princess Amari.
In the novel, Amari is described as having “dark copper skin,” a detail that plays a crucial role in the storyline, as her darker complexion sets her apart from her family and leads to her experiencing colorism.
“Casting a dark-skinned man to play the lightest character in the series but a biracial woman to play his sister who faces colorism for being darker? Biblical levels of misogynoir,” one user wrote on X.
Amandla Stenberg Responds
After waves of criticism flooded social media, Stenberg addressed the backlash in a TikTok video.
“I just want to take this moment to fully address, in video format, this perception that exists of me—that I steal roles from dark-skinned women,” she began. “This year was mostly defined for me, honestly, by contending with what it felt like to receive racist death threats just for existing in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, and that was a really difficult thing for me to move through. But honestly, it feels so much more painful for me to feel like I’m at odds with my own community.”
She continued, “I want everyone to know that this is important to me, and I think about it with every choice that I make. I would never navigate my career blindly, not thinking about my skin tone or the space I occupy. I would never go after a role I didn’t feel was right for me…I want to see all skin tones represented in media. I know that colorism is an insidious system that relentlessly impacts every facet of entertainment.”
Stenberg also reflected on how the criticism isn’t new to her career. She mentioned that after being cast in “The Hate U Give” in 2018, fans questioned her portrayal of Starr Carter, a character illustrated as dark-skinned on the book’s cover. According to Stenberg, author Angie Thomas specifically wanted her for the role due to her activism. A similar situation reportedly unfolded when auditioning for “Children of Blood and Bone.”
As previously reported by theGrio, Adeyemi has spoken about how the racist backlash to Stenberg’s casting as Rue in “The Hunger Games” influenced her to write “Children of Blood and Bone.” Stenberg recalled meeting Adeyemi for the first time after landing the role:
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time… and she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl—that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them,’” Stenberg shared. “We started crying, and I said to myself, ‘God wants me here.’”
In the video, Stenberg quoted passages from the book and shared visuals from her research process. While some fans appreciated her addressing the controversy, others felt it only reinforced their disappointment with the casting and Adeyemi’s decisions.
“Two things can be true, Amandla. You 100% did NOT deserve the racist hate you’ve gotten throughout your career, and yet that does not erase that you are a biracial, light-skinned girl taking up space in a role where the character’s dark skin is literally part of her storyline,” one user wrote on X.
“I’m tired of y’all playing in our faces [and] continuing the erasure [of] Black girls. Not every Black girl got 4B hair [and] is light-skinned and biracial. I’m very over it,” read another tweet.
“I watched Amandla’s video addressing her casting, and all I took from it is that the authors of these books envision her playing these characters,” another user noted. “My question is, why do you see biracial actors as the face of your Black characters? Did you consider other Black actors for the role?”
As of now, Adeyemi has yet to address the controversy publicly. However, Stenberg concluded her video with a hopeful message:
“If you envisioned Amari differently, I think that’s a beautiful thing. That is the power of interpretation and literature—we take words and imbue them with our own meaning and experience. At the end of the day, Tomi is our executive producer and writer now, and I know she wants to see a world on screen that is vibrant with different skin tones and shades because this movie is going to be for everyone in the Black community. It’s going to be a film that celebrates the entire diaspora of Black experience globally.”
“Children of Blood and Bone” is set to premiere in theaters on Jan. 15, 2027.
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