By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Before Nigerian filmmaker Roye Okupe’s daughter was born, he decided that he wanted to create a character that would be a positive role model for her and people all over the world with first the graphic novel and then with the animated television series, “Iyanu: Child of Wonder.”
“’Iyanu’ is a love letter to my daughter, who is four years old now,” Okupe told Reuters.
“Before she was born, I had the thought in my head that if I eventually had a baby girl, ‘what is a show that I would want to watch on TV, that she could both be entertained by, but at the same time, inspired by her heritage and her culture?’ and that was one of the things that pushed me to create this,” he added.
The show, an original production by Black-owned studio Lion Forge Animation, will arrive on Cartoon Network on Saturday, followed by Max on Sunday with an all-Nigerian voice cast.
“Iyanu” is a children’s superhero animated series based on Okupe and artist Godwin Akpan’s graphic novel of the same name that takes place in a world inspired by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Africa.
The show introduces Iyanu, a teenage orphaned girl who discovers that she has special powers that will eventually enable her to defeat the evil forces in her homeland.
For Lion Forge CEO and founder Dave Steward II, the series based on Nigerian mythology is a sign that African content is becoming more popular in global streaming.
“This is kind of one of the first times you’re seeing content coming out with African mythology,” Steward II said.
He added that it’s common for shows and movies to be based on Roman, Norse, and Greek mythologies, while seeing this level of African “cultural specificity” is less common.
“We’ve had Black representation in different ways, in entertainment, in cartoons as well,” Sam Kugbiyi, who voices the character Toye, said.
“But to have it so specific, it’s amazing. It’s a beautiful thing to see. This is historic, in my opinion,” he added.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Alicia Powell;Editing by Mary Milliken and Aurora Ellis)
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