Amazon Studios has confirmed that Whoopi Goldberg will join the cast of the series adaptation of Anansi Boys.
Based on Neil Gaiman’s hit novel, the 6-part drama is produced by Amazon Studios, The Blank Corporation, Endor Productions, and MediaCityUK-based RED Production company.
Goldberg will play the role of Menacing Bird Woman, opposite Malachi Kirby’s leading roles of Fat Charlie and Spider.
“I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic,” said Goldberg.
Set in contemporary London, it follows the characters on an epic story which stretches from the UK to Florida, the Caribbean and the mythical World Before Time.
It’s currently filming at FirstStage Studios in Leith on a newly built LED volume stage.
“When I first conceived Anansi Boys, decades ago, I imagined Whoopi Goldberg as Bird Woman,” explained Co-showrunner, Writer, and Executive Producer, Neil Gaiman.
“I wasn’t able to meet her until 2018, when she interviewed me with some of the Good Omens team at New York Comic Con. At which point she mentioned that she had just finished listening to Sir Lenny Henry’s reading of Anansi Boys, and that it was one of her favourite books. Sometimes things feel planned and inevitable, and we are incredibly lucky. She’s going to be scary.”
Gaiman and Sir Lenny Henry wrote the series along with Arvind Ethan David, Kara Smith, and Racheal Ofori.
Gaiman, Henry, Douglas Mackinnon, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Hilary Bevan Jones (Endor Productions), and Richard Fee (RED Production Company) are executive producers.
[Photo Credit: Timothy White]
