Stage and screen star Corey Hawkins will star in the upcoming HBO Max limited series Americanah, based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The Tony nominee joins previously announced star Lupita Nyong’o and showrunner Danai Gurira, both Tony nominees themselves for Eclipsed.
Variety reports Hawkins will play Blaine, the enamored boyfriend and Yale Professor of Ifemelu (Nyong’o) in present-day. The character is a social justice advocate, tutoring at-risk students and organizing protests.
The 10-episode series follows Ifemelu and Obinze (Zackary Momoh), a couple young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West—but forced in separate directions. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria and reignite their passion for each other and for their homeland. Serving on the writing team is playwright Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play), whose play Nollywood Dreams will run Off-Broadway this spring.
Before, Hawkins will star as Benny in the In The Heights movie (check out the trailer released last month). The stage alum was last seen on Broadway in Six Degrees of Separation as Paul, for which he earned a Tony nomination.