Remember those cryptic TikToks from Children of Blood and Bone author Tomi Adeyemi that left everyone trying to work out what exactly had gone wrong behind the scenes? In one, Adeyemi revealed a startling February 2025 text exchange with Amandla Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari in the upcoming adaptation. After Stenberg apparently reached out, Adeyemi responded: “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.“ The screenshot also showed that she had blocked the actress.

Then came an even more dramatic five-minute TikTok after the first trailer dropped. Speaking through long pauses, Adeyemi called making the film “the worst thing I have ever had to live through” and said she suffered panic attacks and severe physical distress after visiting the set. Yet despite the gravity of those claims, she still did not explain the central mystery: what actually happened? She named no specific incident, accusation or action that would explain why an adaptation she once enthusiastically championed had become something she now refuses even to watch.

Well, Vanity Fair has now gone digging, and it reports that Adeyemi had already privately told people connected to the film that she planned to distance herself from the adaptation before making that split public in July. Sources close to the production describe controversy surrounding Stenberg’s casting, a relationship between Adeyemi and Stenberg that reportedly became strained and palpable on set, and a production in which Adeyemi had unusually significant creative involvement.

Adeyemi Dream-Cast Light-Skinned Actresses Too

One of the most revealing details in this saga is that Tomi Adeyemi herself originally wanted light-skinned or biracial actresses for Princess Amari. In a March 2018 interview with WatchJaro Magazine, she named Tessa Thompson or Zendaya for Amari, Michael B. Jordan or John Boyega for Tzain, and Idris Elba for King Saran.

This is why fans criticised Stenberg’s casting on colourism grounds. Amari is described as having dark copper skin, but her complexion is significant because she is noticeably darker than the rest of her light-skinned royal family. Her mother’s treatment of her makes that difference part of her story.

That makes the film’s casting particularly interesting. Amandla Stenberg plays Princess Amari alongside Regina King as Queen Nehanda, Chiwetel Ejiofor as King Saran and Damson Idris as her brother, Prince Inan. Visually, Stenberg does not obviously create the same darker-daughter-within-a-lighter-family contrast described in the novel. If anything, Idris appears to provide the strongest complexion contrast within the royal family as currently cast.

That does not prove the adaptation has removed Amari’s colourism storyline, but it does raise a legitimate question: has the film dropped or substantially rewritten that dynamic?

The issue becomes even harder to place solely at Stenberg’s feet when Adeyemi had already imagined lighter-skinned actresses for Amari years before Stenberg was cast. A lighter-skinned Amari was clearly not incompatible with Adeyemi’s own early vision for the adaptation.

Adeyemi Once Used Stenberg’s Story as Proof She Belonged

Here is where the story becomes genuinely ugly. Sources who spoke with Vanity Fair said Adeyemi participated in the casting process, supported Stenberg’s involvement from the start, and expressed excitement about the decision. She publicly reassured disappointed fans, telling them that if they felt brokenhearted by the casting, they would not feel that way when they were sitting in the theatre.

Stenberg herself revealed that Adeyemi had told her in a private conversation that Stenberg’s experience playing Rue in The Hunger Games, and the racist backlash she endured, had partially inspired Adeyemi to write the book series. Adeyemi reportedly told Stenberg that she wanted a screen world “vibrant with different skin tones.”

However, that did not stop fans from criticising Stenberg and accusing her of taking roles from dark-skinned Black actresses, a claim she later addressed and rejected on social media.

From Creative Inspiration to Public Estrangement

That is a significant revelation. Adeyemi had not merely tolerated Stenberg’s casting. She had embraced it and had reportedly told Stenberg that her experience as Rue partially inspired Children of Blood and Bone. Stenberg understood Adeyemi’s comments as support for a screen world featuring different skin tones.

What followed is the rupture already described above: the private message cutting off contact, the block and eventually Adeyemi’s public separation from the film.

Adeyemi has still not publicly explained what Stenberg herself allegedly did to warrant being singled out. Based on the public record, Stenberg’s supposed offence appears to be invoking Adeyemi’s own assurances while defending herself from criticism over the casting. She did not attack Adeyemi; she explained why she believed she had the creator’s support.

That makes Adeyemi’s treatment of Stenberg particularly difficult to square with the origin story she has repeatedly given for her own work. She knew exactly what it looked like when a young Black actress became the target of racialised casting outrage. Stenberg’s experience as Rue was part of the story Adeyemi herself had cited as an inspiration.

Why Amandla Stenberg Looks More Like the Scapegoat Than the Problem

To us, that creates an uncomfortable impression. Stenberg became publicly associated with Adeyemi’s grievances even though no public evidence currently shows that Stenberg caused the broader experience Adeyemi describes as traumatic. That does not mean nothing happened behind the scenes. It means we still do not know what happened, and until Adeyemi explains it, treating Stenberg as responsible goes beyond the available evidence.

To us, there is a word for how that sequence looks: scapegoating. From our perspective, the sequence makes Stenberg look like a convenient shield and later a scapegoat. When fans of the book attacked Stenberg over the casting, Adeyemi distanced herself from the project entirely. Stenberg was then left carrying much of the public backlash for a casting decision Adeyemi had reportedly supported from the beginning.

And that is what makes this so difficult to ignore: Adeyemi had already imagined a lighter-skinned Amari. Whatever went wrong later, the available evidence makes it very difficult to argue that Amandla Stenberg’s complexion alone explains the rupture. Whatever caused the personal fracture, the contradiction over casting belongs far more to Adeyemi’s own record than it does to Stenberg.

Discover more from Feminegra

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.