Daniel Kaluuya To Producer & Star In Film Adaptation Of Femi Fadugba’s Novel ‘The Upper World’

Deadline reports that Netflix has acquired the film rights to Femi Fadugba’s debut novel The Upper World, which has Queen & Slim’s Daniel Kaluuya attached to produce and star.

The YA novel is the first in a planned series of novels. It’s set to be released in the UK via, Penguin UK, in 2021, as well as in the U.S., through HarperCollins, early 2022.

Set in Peckham, London, the story follows Esso, who is caught in a deadly feud and on the verge of expulsion when he realizes he has an unexpected gift: access to a world where he can see glimpses of the past and the future. A generation away, Rhia is walking to football practice in 2035, unaware that the mysterious stranger she’s about to meet desperately needs her help to avert a bullet fired fifteen years ago.

Eric Newman, who brought the book to Netflix, is producing alongside Screen Arcade partner Bryan Unkeless, through their first-look deal at Netflix, and Kaluuya. Fadugba serving as executive producer.