Idris Elba’s casting as Okonkwo in a TV series adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart has sparked controversy. Many question whether a non-Igbo actor can authentically portray the iconic role.
The criticism of the British actor of Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean descent has largely focused on his accent. Elba, starring as Okonkwo, has led some to worry that the production may not do justice to Achebe’s nuanced portrayal of pre-colonial Igbo society.
Vanessa Ohaha on X wrote, “Why is Idris starring? Why couldn’t he just produce?! Why must he star! I know there are business/funding considerations but Nigerian Culture/language and art isn’t a joke. Things Fall Apart is a classic and deserves better.”
Like Ohaha on X, many Nigerians were obviously upset about the news. A24, the studio company behind the series production, is reputable for culturally driven projects such as ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once,’ a hit Asian movie that swept major award shows in 2023.
David Oyelowo, a Nigerian Hollywood actor and producer, and Amanda N’Duka are involved with the title through the Yoruba Saxon production company. Despite these successes, many fear that Hollywood adaptations of African stories often fall flat with poor accents and oversimplified or misleading narratives. However, some argue that accent is just a minority issue, and if it was a Nigerian work, other issues may arise from the final product.
Read also: Idris Elba to star as Okonkwo in David Oyelowo’s ‘Things Fall Apart’
“The truth is if we put this film in the hands of the Nollywood of today, we won’t have accent problems, but we will have many other issues to complain about,” Iroko Critic wrote on X.
Nwando Achebe, one of the principal officers of Achebe Masterworks and Achebe’s daughter, expressed her excitement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Over the moon about this. My only wish is that Dad could have been here to see this!”
The literary community, especially in Nigeria, is concerned that a Hollywood-backed production might not capture the intricacies of this epic story, which encompasses friendship, intimacy, community, and loss and goes beyond the typical “clash of cultures” narrative normally seen in Hollywood-backed African stories.
For instance, the movie ‘The Woman King’ explored the story of a group of women warriors called ‘Agojie’ who fought for the kingdom of Dahomey. Onscreen, the ‘Agojies’ were inconspicuous, keeping a low profile. But in 19th-century West Africa, at the height of their power, history tells that their reputation preceded them as strong, ruthless, fierce, and unparalleled.
In the movie, Viola Davis, an American actor, played the lead character, General Nanisca, of the Agojie Army. Wantchekon, a historical advisor, told Time that five percent of the roughly 12.5 million people enslaved came from Dahomey. In The Woman King, Nanisca experienced the horrors of slavery and worked to convince King Ghezo, played by John Boyega, a British-Nigerian actor, to stop participating in the slave trade—or at least to end the tributary status of the Dahomey to the Oyo Empire.
The official description for ‘Things Fall Apart’ states that it tells the story of Okonkwo, one of literature’s most iconic characters—a fearless African leader resolute about preserving his people and culture. As British colonisers disrupt his world, Okonkwo’s struggle to maintain power and tradition spirals into a heart-wrenching confrontation that makes him an unforgettable character.
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