According to The Hollywood Reporter, Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira has signed a two-year creative deal with ABC Studios that gives her the leeway to create, develop, write and produce new projects for the Disney-owned branch. Reportedly, Gurira has been working with Disney since 2018, after gaining a titular role in Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther as Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje.
Shortly after, Gurira went on to re-enact this same role in films, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
“From Zimbabwe to Wakanda to Broadway, there is no one like Danai Gurira,” ABC Studios president Jonnie Davis said. “The scope of her talents and the breadth of her abilities are astonishing. We are over the moon that she has chosen to make ABC Studios her exclusive home.”
Gurira is currently working as an executive producer on HBO Max’s Americanah. The series tells the story of Ifemelu (Lupita Nyong’ o), a young, beautiful woman raised in Nigeria, who, as a teenager, falls in love with her classmate Obinze. The two reside in a military-ruled country, the two split ways, with Ifemelu heading for America and Obinze setting sail for London. Once settling in, Ifemelu finds out what it means to be black. And while Obinze had hoped to join her, he cannot go due to post-9/11 America to him. He comes to learn that the London lifestyle is quite dangerous.
