‘Hunger Games’ Star Amandla Stenberg Cast in ‘Darkest Minds’

Amandla Stenberg is set to star in Darkest Minds. The 17-year-old actress is best known for her performance as Rue in The Hunger Games, and now she’s taking on another young adult fiction adaptation as she steps up for the main role in the adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s trilogy.

The story is set at a time when a pandemic has killed off most of the America’s teenagers. Some of the survivors develop superpowers, and in an attempt to keep them at bay, those with newfound abilities are sent to internment camps. The protagonist is 16-year-old Ruby Daly – played by Amandla – who develops telekinetic powers and decides to break out of her camp. She ends up on the run with other teens who have done the same, as they all try to escape the government’s clutches.

Jennifer Yu Nelson is making her live action directorial debut with the project, after being best known for her work on animated children’s movie Kung Fu Panda. The production is being produced by Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps banner, and the script is being written by Chad Hodge.

No other casting announcements have been made as of yet, but for Amandla this marks another in her list of young adult fiction adaptations, after she was recently cast alongside Nick Robinson in Everything Everything, an adaptation of a book by Nicola Yoon.

Amandla revealed earlier this year she is bisexual but admitted being so open made her feel quite vulnerable. She said: “As someone who identifies as a black bisexual woman, I’ve been through it and it hurts. It’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable but then I realized because of Solange [Knowles], and India Aire and Willow [Smith], and all the black girls watching this right now, there’s absolutely nothing to change.

“Here I am, being myself and it’s hard and it’s vulnerable and it’s definitely a process that I’m learning.”