Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Grace Saif will join the cast of the upcoming Amazon Studios’ series Anansi Boys, via The Hollywood Reporter. Aubyn and Saif will play the two female leading roles of the show, Rosie Noah and Detective Constable Daisy Day.
Aubyn is known for her performance from Lovers Rock, which is part of Steve McQueen’s acclaimed Small Axe anthology series. Saif is best known for her role Ani from 13 Reasons Of Why. Other than Aubyn and Saif, Malachi Kirby (Roots) and Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) are also set to participate in the mini-series. Kirby is playing Charles “Fat Charlie” Nancy and Lindo is playing Charlie’s father.
The series is based on Neil Gaiman’s best-selling fantasy novel of the same name. In the novel, “Mr. Nancy” — an incarnation of the West African trickster god Anansi — dies, leaving twin sons, who in turn discover one another’s existence after being separated as young children. Aubyn’s role, Rosie, is a teacher and fiancée to Charlie, the main protagonist and hero. Saif’s role as Detective Constable Daisy Day is a smart, interesting, and strong character that gets into several intersecting police cases, including a murder.
Gaiman praised the two leading actresses. “When you are casting something on the scale of Anansi Boys you need female leads who are as accomplished, charming, and brilliant as, well, Malachi Kirby in both his incarnations,” said Gaiman. “Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Grace Saif are those women. [They’re] both funny, honest, brilliant actresses, and you will fall in love with both of them.” Gaiman is also serving as one of the executive producers and co-writers of the series.
Filming of the series has begun in Scotland on November 18th. It will likely take five months to wrap up. The show contains six 60-minute episodes. The release date is yet to be announced.