Sony has announced the release date for director Gina Prince-Bythewood's upcoming The Woman King for TriStar Pictures. According to Deadline, the historical epic will be released on September 16, 2022.
The film is inspired by the events of The Kingdom of Dahomey, a powerful state in Africa, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Viola Davis stars as Nanisca, the military general of an all-female unit. She is joined by Thuso Mbedu as Nawi, described as an ambitious recruit, who fought with Nanisca against an enemy of colonizers who enslaved their people and took away their honor. Lashawna Lynch (who recently appeared in this year's No Time To Die and 2019's Captain Marvel) and John Boyega (who appeared as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy from 2015-2019) will also be appearing in the film.
Prince-Bythewood recently directed 2020's The Old Guard starring Charlize Theron. Dana Stevens wrote the original draft of the script and later worked on the current version of the script with Prince-Bythewood. Davis will be producing the film, along with Cathy Schulman, Julius Tennon, and Maria Bello. When speaking about the film in July 2020, Davis and Tennon expressed excitement over being able to tell the story of the Women Warriors of the Dahomey Ahosi tribe. "It's time that they truly occupy their place in history," they said, "and in Gina Prince-Bythewood's hands, it will be a gamechanger."
The Woman King will take the release date of the untitled George Foreman biopic, produced by Sony's Affirm Films, which will now be released on March 24, 2022. On its release date, The Woman King will go up against the science-fiction film Distant (from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment) and White Bird: A Wonder Story from Lionsgate.
While waiting for the release of The Woman King, fans can see Prince-Bythewood's latest film The Old Guard on Netflix. Davis' next film The Unforgiveable will be released on Netflix on November 24, 2021.