HBO has decided to drop out of the Americanah miniseries project following shooting conflicts reportedly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project which was an adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s acclaimed novel was earlier approved as a 10-episode limited series for HBO Max in 2019.
According to the reports, production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced Lupita Nyong’o who was supposed to play the lead character ‘Ifemelu’ to drop out of the series over scheduling conflicts.
The development led to HBO’s decision to cancel the series altogether.
Americanah tells the story of Ifemelu, a young, beautiful and self-assured woman raised in Nigeria, who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate Obinze.
Reports confirm that Danai Gurira who was supposed to serve as Executive Producer of the project alongside Lupita still holds the film rights to the bestselling novel and can shop it to another streamer or TV network that may be interested.
