Wild Seed adaptation in the works at Amazon
David Farnor | On 03, Apr 2019
Amazon is developing a new drama series based on the science fiction book Wild Seed.
Octavia E. Butler’s acclaimed novel is the first in a five-book series, chronologically speaking, although it was the third to be published. Over 10 years after the author passed away, the screen rights have been acquired by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions.
Wild Seed is a love story of two African immortals who travel from pre-Colonial West Africa to the far flung future. Doro is a killer who uses his power to breed people like livestock, but Anyanwu, a healer, gets him to rethink his cruel behaviour – and their friendship continues to shape the world over centuries.
Deadline reports that JuVee has pursued the screen rights for two years, with Rafiki helmer Wanuri Kahiu proving the final piece in the puzzle to make the adaptation a reality. The series will be co-written by Kahiu and novelist Nnedi Okorafor. Davis, Tennon and Andrew Wang, JuVee’s head of television development, join the pair as executive producers, alongside Ernestine Walker and Merrilee Heifetz of the Octavia E. Butler estate.
“Wild Seed is a book that shifted my life,” Davis told the trade publication. “It is as epic, as game changing, as moving and brilliant as any Science Fiction novel ever written. Julius and I are proud to have this masterpiece in our hands. It fullfills our promise and legacy to be disrupters. Octavia Butler was a visionary and we look forward to honoring the scope of her work and sharing it with the world.”
“We love Octavia Butler and her work and have for decades. But Wild Seed is our favorite. It’s expansive, disturbing, and unique,” added Kahiu and Okafor. “Wild Seed stays with you. It’s a love/hate story of African immortals that connects people on the African continent to the Diaspora. It merges the mystical and the scientific seamlessly. You’re going to see shape-shifting, body jumping, telepaths, people born with the ability to defy the laws of physics, all in the context of our past, present and future world.”
“We couldn’t think of more perfect partners to bring Octavia’s feminist century-spanning epic to life than Viola Davis, JuVee Productions and the brilliant creative team of Wanuri Kahiu and Nnedi Okorafor — and we are so excited to be working with the tenacious and passionate Amazon team, whose enthusiasm for Wild Seed seems immeasurable,” commented Walker and Heifetz.