Yvonne Orji is bringing Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom to the small screen, Deadline reports.
The actor and comedian, known for her role as Molly on Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore’s Insecure, is set to produce an adaptation of Gyasi’s novel for Sony Pictures Television.
Gyasi’s book, published in 2020 by Knopf, follows a neuroscience graduate student who seeks to understand what led her brother to die of a drug overdose and her mother to struggle with suicidal depression. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, “In a quietly poignant story, a lonely woman finds a way to be less alone.”
Orji, author of the 2021 book Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me Into the Life of My Dreams, will develop the adaptation for Sony Pictures Television under her first-look deal with the production company.
Orji confirmed her involvement in the project on Instagram, writing, “Been chasing this story for 4 solid years and will continue to ride hard for it ’til it’s on your television screens WORLD WIDE!! You can BANK ON IT!… And to execs and networks— please don’t sleep on African stories. They are worthy to be told. They are worthy to be INVESTED in. And there IS a GLOBAL audience for them. BANK ON US!”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
