Will Smith On Board With David Oyelowo For New Netflix Project

Will Smith has been in the industry for years. The veteran actor recently teamed up with David Oyelowo to produce an adaption of an upcoming novel.

Variety reported that Smith’s Westbrook Studios and Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon have teamed up with Netflix for the adaptation of Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun. The novel is written by Nigerian-born and British-raised journalist Tola Okogwu. As of now, no director is attached to the project.

The premise of the novel is described as Black Panther meets X-Men, and it will be published on June 14 from Simon & Schuster. The book follows the title character, a teenager whose massive head of hair is the subject of ridicule to most except for her best friend Cheyenne.

Onyeka gets launched into a world of fear, confusion, mystery and adventure when Cheyenne nearly drowns and, inexplicably, Onyeka’s hair takes on a life of its own and saves Cheyenne. She then learns from her mother that her ‘psycho-kinetic powers’ make her one of the Solari, a secret group of those with special powers who train in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Ola Shokunbi (The Fix) will write the screenplay for adaptation. Will Smith and Jon Mone will be producing for Westbrook with Oyelowo producing for Yoruba Saxon. Westbrook Studios’ Heather Washington and Yoruba Saxon’s Jessica Oyelowo will serve as executive producers. 

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