It’s not lost on the forged of The Woman King that they’re telling a story outside the Hollywood norm. For Sheila Atim, Lashana Lynch, and John Boyega, having the chance to inform a historical tale of Black life that doesn’t involve living or escaping plantation life within the Southern United States or battling Jim Crow laws is an exciting opportunity.

As Dahomey’s King Ghezo and his women warriors, the actors get to indicate us a lesser-known slice of life that sees Black people living and thriving in their very own societies, with the transatlantic slave trade a distant concern within the background as a substitute of the first focus.

For Atim, who plays high-ranking warrior Amenza, it was a rare opportunity to deal with the range of Blackness and highlight that there are myriad stories from our past that we haven’t tapped into in film.

“Considered one of the really beautiful things about this film is that it is ready on the continent, it was made on the continent, and features so many various people from everywhere in the Black diaspora around the globe,” Atim tells ESSENCE exclusively. “There are such a lot of opportunities to inform stories about us. There are such a lot of of us on the planet and though we’re all similar and sure in a single sense, we’re very different as well.”

“I believe it’s really necessary for us to not restrict ourselves, to maintain on pushing, to maintain reminding ourselves that each one the several elements of our histories – plural – are valid, have something to show us, and have something to entertain us as well.”

Lynch, who portrays fierce yet warm warrior Izogie, said that on top of telling a story about Black life that audiences aren’t quite as accustomed to, she’s completely happy it was told through a Black perspective.

“It’s beautiful to be a component of something that pushes against the white gaze that we’re used to adhering to,” Lynch adds. “It takes a Black forged and a Black director – Gina Prince-Bythewood, a Black woman who’s fighting for her Black actors – to do not forget that it’s a collaboration. It’s a responsibility, and I need to take that responsibility in order that the proper stories to be told, like this one, are in the proper hands.”

“I second that and support that,” Boyega adds. As King Ghezo within the film, he’s in a rare position in Hollywood: playing an African king.

“I’d really prefer to see the industry inspired by such a story, inspired by bringing so many great actors and actresses together. And likewise, to proceed exploring the continent for more stories.

“That’s something that’s been special for all of us, to be a component of something that adds to that conversation and hopefully adds to the momentum, because the subsequent 10 years, I’m not going to be in an industry that’s similar to the way it was before. That’s not happening.”