African Queens

Lore & Background

The series was inspired by producer Jada Pinkett Smith's observation that stories about Black queens are rarely told. She stated, 'We don't often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them.' The first season explores the life of Njinga, Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, featuring interviews with Kellie Carter Jackson, Diambi Kabatusuila, and Rosa Cruz e Silva. The second season examines the reign of Cleopatra, with interviews including postdoctorate Black feminist and Classicist Professor Shelley P. Haley.

Reader's Guide

African Queens combines dramatic recreations with interviews with historians and people from modern-day regions the queens ruled. The first season, African Queens: Njinga, received 88% positive reviews from 8 critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 69, indicating generally favorable reviews. The second season, Queen Cleopatra, received 18% positive reviews from 17 critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 45, indicating mixed or average reviews. The casting of a Black actress as Cleopatra sparked controversy, with the Egyptian government and some Egyptologists criticizing the depiction as a falsification of history, while the director and producers defended the choice as reflecting theories about Cleopatra's possible Egyptian ancestry and the multicultural nature of ancient Egypt.

Did You Know?

• The series is produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.
• The second season focuses on Cleopatra VII Philopator and is directed by Tina Gharavi.
• The casting of a Black actress as Cleopatra caused controversy, with Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities stating it represented a 'falsification of Egyptian history.'

Production & Creative Vision

African Queens arrived on Netflix in 2023 as a two-season docudrama that weaves together dramatized re-enactments with conversations featuring historians and community voices. Producer and narrator Jada Pinkett Smith has spoken openly about what drove her to helm the project: she felt that stories about Black queens were conspicuously absent from mainstream media, and she wanted her daughter and her broader community to encounter those narratives. The first season, directed by Ethosheia Hylton, centers on Njinga, the ruler of Ndongo and Matamba, while the second, helmed by Tina Gharavi, turns its lens to Cleopatra VII Philopator of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Each season dropped all of its episodes at once—Njinga on February 15 and Cleopatra on May 10—giving viewers the full arc in a single sitting. The format deliberately pairs fictionalized scenes with scholarly commentary, aiming to bridge entertainment and education without letting either element dominate.

The Queens & Their Stories

Each season spotlights a different monarch through both performance and expert testimony. In the Njinga installment, Adesuwa Oni portrays the queen, supported by a cast including Eshe Asante as Ndambi, Marilyn Nnadebe as Funji, Chipo Kureya as Kambu, and Philips Nortey as King Mbande. The interview segment brings together Kellie Carter Jackson, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College; Diambi Kabatusuila, the present-day traditional queen of the Bakwa Luntu people in Central Kasaï; and Rosa Cruz e Silva, who formerly directed Angola's National Archives. The Cleopatra season casts Adele James in the title role alongside Craig Russell as Mark Antony, John Partridge as Julius Caesar, James Marlowe as Octavian, and Andira Crichlow as Arsinoe. Postdoctoral Black feminist and Classicist Professor Shelley P. Haley provides scholarly context for that season, grounding the dramatization in academic research on the Ptolemaic period.

Critical Reception

The two seasons received markedly different critical responses. Njinga earned 88 percent approval from eight critics on Rotten Tomatoes with a 7.3 average, and a Metacritic score of 69 out of 100, signaling generally favorable reviews. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three out of four stars, noting the show keeps viewers engaged despite occasional melodramatic dialogue. Luke Peppa of the Financial Times suggested the series could inspire audiences to seek out more Africa-centric narratives. However, Ellen E. Jones of The Guardian found the dramatic sequences underwhelming relative to the academic content, and Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter felt the format constrained deeper exploration. Cleopatra fared considerably worse: 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (4.6 out of 10) and a Metacritic score of 45. Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph called it neither serious enough for history enthusiasts nor dramatic enough for soap-opera fans, while Rohan Naahar of The Indian Express lamented the absence of archival imagery from Cleopatra's world.

The Cleopatra Casting Controversy

The decision to cast Adele James, an English actress of Jamaican descent, as Cleopatra ignited a heated public debate. Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities condemned the series as a falsification of Egyptian history, and the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archeology asserted that Cleopatra possessed light skin and Hellenic features, citing Roman and Ptolemaic Greek coins and statues as evidence. Former antiquities minister and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass went further, calling the portrayal completely fabricated and accusing Netflix of spreading deceptive claims about the racial origins of Egyptian civilization. Egyptologist Monica Hanna, speaking to CBS News in May 2023, argued the production was imposing modern identity politics onto the ancient past. In contrast, Sara Khorshid, a doctoral candidate at Western University, characterized some of the backlash as antiblack racism while acknowledging that legitimate scholarly criticisms of the series also existed.