Making Wolf, Tade Thompson’s award-winning debut novel, is to be adapted for television by Big Talk and writer Sean Conway. Making Wolf is an African noir masterpiece set in the blazing sun of a fictitious African state. When Weston Kogi, a London store detective, returns to his West African home country he thinks telling people he works as a homicide detective is harmless hyperbole. He is kidnapped and forced by two separate rebel factions to investigate the murder of a local hero, Papa Busi. Solving the crime may tip a country on the brink into civil war and cost Weston his life.
Violent, darkly comic, Kafkaesque, and heartbreaking it tackles themes of alienation, identity, dislocation, and rejection.
Tade Thompson is an award-winning author, best known for the sci-fi novel Rosewater, which won both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Nommo Award and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, and the novella The Murders of Molly Southbourne which won the prestigious Julia Verlanger Prize and was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. He also writes short stories, notably The Apologists which was nominated for a British Science Fiction Association award.
Sean Conway is a wildly original filmmaker with a unique worldview who broke through with the sexy, life-affirming feature “brilliantlove”, directed by Ashley Horner. Sean wrote all 6 episodes of Paul Abbott’s award-winning Sky Atlantic series “Hit & Miss” starring Chloe Sevigny (a US remake is in the works), and acted as writer and producer on the first series of Showtime’s drama series “Ray Donovan”, and in the same capacity on season 4 to 6. Sean recently co-created We Are Who We Are a new US/Italy TV co-pro with Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) for HBO.
The Television rights were acquired by Big Talk from agent Luke Speed of Curtis Brown Group, on behalf of Alexander Cochran of C&W Agency. Big Talk’s Faye Dorn will develop and Executive Produce the project with Tade and Sean. Big Talk’s recent credits include multi award-winning ‘Mum’ (BBC Two), ‘Back’ (Channel 4), ‘Cold Feet’ (ITV) and recent hit ‘Defending the Guilty (BBC Two) alongside the BAFTA winning ‘Rev.’ (BBC) and ‘Friday Night Dinner’ (Channel 4) which is currently shooting it’s 6th season.
Tade Thompson said: “This is amazing news. I am a big fan of Sean Conway’s work from Hit & Miss all the way to Ray Donovan and to have him and Faye Dorn on board for Making Wolf is outstanding. Big Talk have a great track record and I can’t wait for audiences to see this book and these characters on the screen.”
Sean Conway said: “I’m so excited. Tade’s such a fantastic writer, Making Wolf had me gripped from the outset. It’s Chinatown set in West Africa, Weston Kogi is a Jake Gittes for the modern age, set in a world of gritty surrealism. This is gonna be must-see TV”
Kenton Allen, Big Talk Chief Executive said: ‘It’s rare to discover such compelling material with authentic African characters wrapped up in an incredibly taut, blackly comic thriller. The combination of Tade’s extraordinary debut novel and Sean’s whip smart writing makes for a scintillating package we think will entertain audiences all over the world.’
Big Talk is part of ITV Studios.
Malking Wolf will be published by Constable in paperback in May 2020