New trailer for ‘CHILDREN OF BLOOD & BONE.’
Starring Idris Elba, Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Damson Idris, Amandla Stenberg, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
In theaters January 15th. pic.twitter.com/ijq6d37gED
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 12, 2026
Paramount has released a new trailer and poster for Children of Blood and Bone, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s 2018 YA fantasy. It’s now two months until the film reaches cinemas and IMAX screens on 15 January 2027, which is a very short time in this project’s life. The adaptation was first announced seven years ago and passed through Fox and then Lucasfilm before it reached Paramount. By Hollywood standards that is a brisk trot. By anyone else’s, it is long enough to get through a medical degree.
For newcomers, Orïsha is a kingdom where magic has been violently stripped from the maji. Thuso Mbedu plays Zélie, a young woman who can command the spirits of the dead and sets out to bring it back. Amandla Stenberg and Damson Idris play the royal siblings Amari and Inan, and Tosin Cole plays Zélie’s brother Tzain. The rest of the cast list looks like someone raided the BAFTA guest list after it closed. Viola Davis is Mama Agba, Idris Elba is Lekan, Cynthia Erivo is Kaea, Lashana Lynch is Jumoke, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Regina King are King Saran and Queen Nehanda. Mbedu, Davis and Lynch all worked with Prince-Bythewood on The Woman King, so this is a reunion with added sorcery.
The music has been treated as a selling point from the start. Tems is executive music producer and curator of the soundtrack, has written three original songs for it, and is the first woman to executive-produce a film soundtrack on this scale. Burna Boy is executive music consultant, and Ayra Starr, Fireboy DML and BNXN also contribute. Terence Blanchard, who scored The Woman King, has written the score.
The source novel draws on Yoruba mythology, and the film was shot in South Africa rather than in a car park in Atlanta with a green sheet. Here at SFcrowsnest we have watched plenty of YA franchises launch with three-film ambitions and stop after one, so the usual caution applies. Still, a big-budget fantasy that isn’t another visit to a castle somewhere vaguely Northumbrian is worth a cheer before anyone has bought popcorn.
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