“Children of Blood and Bone” author Tomi Adeyemi canceled her previously announced Saturday panel at New York Comic Con (NYCC), where she was set to promote her new book, “The Siren.” No announcement from Adeyemi or NYCC organizer ReedPop was made ahead of the panel’s planned afternoon slot, leaving fans questioning what led her to pull out and when.
A source tells Variety the panel was canceled by Adeyemi last month and quietly pulled from the New York Comic Con programming lineup at that time. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1:30 p.m. ET at the New York Javits Center.
Earlier this year, the author slammed the Paramount Pictures film adaptation of her novel, “Children of Blood and Bone,” in a video posted to her TikTok and in a recent interview with The Guardian, Adeyemi said that the experience left her wanting to “never” turn another one of her novels into a film again.
Less than a week ago, a post was shared on the “Children of Blood and Bone” Instagram account announcing a New York Comic Con panel featuring Amandla Stenberg, Thuso Mbedu, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo and more of the film’s stars, set to take place from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Representatives for Adeyemi, her agency CAA and “The Siren” publisher Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group did not immediately respond for comment Saturday.
Adeyemi has said the creative process behind the “Children of Blood and Bone” film adaptation was “the worst thing I have ever had to live through” and left her “hyperventilating and sobbing.” The author also shared that she’s “still being antagonized behind the scenes” and “suffered such severe somatic pain and so many panic attacks” after filming wrapped.
She didn’t elaborate on the specifics of what turned the experience sour, though Adeyemi previously posted a since-deleted TikTok video featuring what appears to be a group chat including the film’s star Stenberg, where Adeyemi texted, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me” and appeared to block Stenberg, according to the L.A. Times. Stenberg’s casting caused controversy about casting a mixed-race actress for a character Adeyemi described as having “dark copper skin” in her books.
“Children of Blood and Bone” is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and stars Stenberg, Lashana Lynch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King, Idris Elba and Viola Davis, among others.
During the “Children of Blood and Bone” panel at New York Comic Con later on Saturday, none of the panelists or moderator Rian Johnson referenced Adeyemi. However, Stenberg, Prince-Bythewood and the cast did speak repeatedly about the book’s influence on the film adaptation.
“When I read the book and then started writing, so many names and faces came into my head. People that I had worked with before, or people that I had wanted to work with,” Prince-Bythewood said of the casting process. “And I felt like we could get everyone in this film, because of what it was. And people knew this book, loved this book, knew that it was going to come into the world, and wanted to be a part of it. So it started there. That did a lot of the work for me.”
The “Children of Blood and Bone” theatrical adaptation hits theaters on Jan. 15.