‘The Woman King’ Stars Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren & Thuso Mbedu Cover ESSENCE

Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren, and Thuso Mbedu are gracing the duvet of ESSENCE in honor of their upcoming movie, The Woman King.

Supply:  Lelanie Foster, @lelanief/ ESSENCE

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren, and Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King hits theaters on September 16. The movie will inform the story of the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit who protected the African kingdom of Dahomey from its enemies within the nineteenth century.

Forward of the film’s launch, the celebs sat down with ESSENCE to speak concerning the movie, the way it renews a way of delight and objective for Black girls, and the way it uncovers and reframes a major chapter in West African historical past.

Viola Davis on not believing The Woman King might occur:

“The necessary a part of this story is –I’m saying this now as a result of it’s been virtually eight years — I’d say on the time it didn’t hit me. Not the story. The story hit me. The risk of the story seeing gentle didn’t hit me,” Davis shares. “I believe that’s necessary to say, as a result of we’re form of thrust into this enterprise. We’re form of thrust on this planet too, however that’s an entire totally different dialog. However we’re thrust within the enterprise routinely assuming that one thing is just not going to occur if it’s by no means been carried out earlier than. There’s not going to be any assist, nobody’s going to need to do it, no studio’s going to provide it the inexperienced gentle vote, and who would need to see me like that? And so I personally dropped it in my thoughts till Kathy Schulman got here with the script by Dana Stevens and I used to be like, ‘Oh, okay.’”

Lashana Lynch on the impression this movie may have on her life:

“Genuinely, I’m simply actually grateful that every one of my experiences and all the no’s and all the issues and all the ‘We’re going with a white woman, a lighter woman, a brief woman, a extra skilled woman–’ we’ll go along with all of these ladies as a result of they, aesthetically, make extra sense than the tall, Black, curvy, short-haired, darkish pores and skin woman from London who doesn’t dot her i’s and cross her t’s on a regular basis, and who has opinions [got me here]. I can not comprehend how that is going to reverberate all through our lives. Not to mention all through the world. The world is one factor, however in our lives there’s one thing that we are able to have eternally.”

Sheila Atim on working with Black girls throughout the diaspora:

“I personally felt so enriched by having the ability to work with individuals who weren’t Black British and even who had been Black British however have a special heritage from me, for us to all be in the identical place. I discovered from everybody and I hope that individuals discovered from me as effectively. I believe that’s an enormous half, what we’re in a position to do for individuals outdoors of ourselves. And there’s additionally what we’re in a position to do to one another, firstly, earlier than we then current what we created.”

Adrienne Warren on the sisterhood that was birthed out of this movie:

“Our togetherness is resistance. We’re a lot stronger collectively. I didn’t know I had sisters in locations. That’s the way it felt being on this set. My sisters have multiplied. And the wonder in that, and the wonder in what we’ve discovered from one another due to our particular person lived experiences, and the wonder that we current after we come collectively, we current what the world has by no means seen earlier than. They love, they which means the system, which means every thing else on the market, likes to divide us, as a result of for those who divide us, then you may conquer us. Attempt to penetrate us. You gained’t as a result of we’ve been by means of a lot, and since in each manner, we’re not superheroes, we’re truly warriors. We’re Black girls.”

Thuso Mbedu on Gina Prince-Bythewood and Viola Davis believing in her:

“My greatest takeaway is that I actually am stronger than I believe or consider or permit myself to be. And that there’s a greatness that you just noticed that I’ve not been allowed to see in myself that I would like to absorb. I thanks for seeing me. As a result of even now I don’t suppose I see myself.”

Try the complete interview here.