Ryan Coogler is collaborating with his wife Zinzi Evans on a Bitter Root big screen adaptation. The couple is producing the project for Legendary. The news comes after it was revealed that Coogler was getting ready to start writing the script for Black Panther 2. It has also been rumored that the sequel has been delayed by a few months, but that has yet to be officially confirmed by anybody from Marvel Studios. As for Evans, she has been working closer with her husband over the past few years.
The Bitter Root comic is set during the Harlem Renaissance of 1924 and follows a “fractured family of once-great monster hunters who must face an unimaginable evil that descends upon New York City.” For generations, the Sangeryes family have hunted and “cured those infected by a supernatural force that feeds off the prejudice of the era, transforming human beings into hideous monsters.” However, the family is now at odds with what to do next. Do they continue to hunt and kill the creatures or save them?
The Bitter Root comic series raises a series of questions about racism and prejudice, which is unfortunately still alive and well. With the monsters in the story feeding on hate, they can take on new looks and faces, making it harder to identify. The Sangeryes family will need to figure out if these monsters can be saved and rehabilitated or if they just need to be eradicated. In other words, this sounds like the perfect project for Ryan Coogler to put his name on. The director has been pushing boundaries ever since he started out and Bitter Root will undoubtedly continue to do so.
Bitter Root was created by David F. Walker and Sanford Greene along with Chuck Brown and is published by Image Comics, with the most recent issue hitting comic stores in March of this year. One week after the last issue came out it was announced that Legendary had acquired the rights. The comic book series has an average 9.2 critic rating and 8.7 user rating on Comic Book Round Up and is one of Image Comics bestsellers, even though only five issues have been produced so far. Now, Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans are throwing their names behind it to get made. Coogler’s Fruitvale Station collaborator Sev Ohanian is also attached to the project.
David F. Walker, Sanford Greene, and Chuck Brown will executive produce the Bitter Root movie with Drapetomedia’s Sean Owolo. Legendary executives Jon Silk and Disney Hall are also on board as producers. A director and writer have yet to be announced for Bitter Root, but that information will more than likely be announced in the coming months as the details get ironed out. Deadline was the first to reveal that Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans were collaborating on a Bitter Root adaptation.
