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The Woman King, headlined by Viola Davis, is based on true events and revolves around an all-female group of warriors called the Agojie, who formed the Kingsguard of the Western African Kingdom of Dahomey.
The Woman King premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last week and is set for a theatrical release in the US on Friday, September 16, 2022.
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King was conceived by Maria Bello after she visited Benin, where the former kingdom of Dahomey was located. Bello co-wrote the screenplay along with Dana Stevens. Dahomey was one of the most powerful states in Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
It features actors including Lashana Lynch, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, John Boyega, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin in pivotal roles alongside Davis.
Read on to learn more about the actors in the upcoming film.
Who are the actors featuring in The Woman King, and what characters are they playing?
Viola Davis as General Nanisca
Viola Davis is an American actor, renowned for being the only black actor to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, namely an Academy Award, Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. She has starred in award-winning films like The Help, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and Fences. Her television credits include How to Get Away with Murder, for which she won an Emmy Award.
In The Woman King, Davis will essay the role of Nanisca, the general of the all-female warrior group Agojie. She retains fighters from the next generation and trains them to face colonial invasion.
Thuso Mbedu as Nawi
Thuso Mbedu is a South African actor who is renowned for appearing in the Amazon Original show The Underground Railroad. She has primarily starred in shows in South Africa and even received an International Emmy nomination for the show Is'Thunzi. The Woman King will mark Mbedu's film debut.
Mbedu essays the character of Nawi, Nanisca's daughter and a new recruit to the warrior group Agojie. The trailer for the film revealed Mbedu engaging in action in a few scenes.
Lashana Lynch as Izogie
Lashana Lynch is a British actor who has appeared in big-banner films like the latest installment of James Bond, No Time to Die, as well as the Marvel films Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Lynch's breakthrough came with the ABC period drama Still Star-Crossed. She was also the winner of the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2022.
Lynch will portray the role of Izogie, a warrior in the all-female warrior group Agojie, in the upcoming film.
Sheila Atim as Amenza
Sheila Atim is a Ugandan-British actor renowned in the world of theater. In the last couple of years, she has appeared in popular shows and films like The Underground Railroad, Bruised, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Pinocchio.
Atim will play Amenza, a member of Nanisca's unit in The Woman King.
John Boyega as King Ghezo
Boyega is a British actor renowned for appearing in the Star Wars trilogy as Finn. A vocal advocate of black rights and the Black Lives Matter movement, Boyega called out Disney during an interview with the British GQ and said:
"[But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up."
A recipient of the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016, Boyega will be seen as King Ghezo, whose reign over the Kingdom of Dahomey lasted from 1818 to 1859. In the trailer for the upcoming film, Ghezo is reluctant to fight because this might lead to war.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Santo Ferreira
Hero Fiennes Tiffin is renowned for playing Hardin Scott in the films After, After We Collided, After We Fell, After Ever Happy, and will appear in the film After Everything from the same franchise.
One of his first stints with acting came with the role of young Tom Riddle aka Voldemort in the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Fiennes Tiffin's uncle Ralph Fiennes played the role of Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise.
While the details surrounding Fiennes Tiffin's character in The Woman King are not clear, he could presumably be one of the British invaders.
The Woman King will be released in cinemas in the US on September 16.
