Starring: Pearl Thusi, Vuyo Dabula, Sechaba Morojele and Abigail Kubeka
Rated: MA Action/Crime/Drama
Set throughout Africa, Queen Sono is centered upon the life of the main character, Queen Sono (Pearl Thusi) in Johannesburg. Her dangerous position as a lead spy of the clandestine government agency, Special Operations Group, is only rivaled by her personal demons.
Queen is tasked with solving international crimes that are connected with the wealthy British entrepreneur Elton Davenport (Steven John Ward) and Russian tech millionaire Ekaterina Gromova (Kate Liquorish), who are in Africa to provide technological advancement.
Various challenges complicating her life are Shandu Johnson Magwaza (Vuyo Dabula) and the Watu Wema, a group of revolutionary freedom fighters who are taking their fight across the Mother Continent; superior officers, including Dr. Sidwell Isaacs (Sechaba Morojele), who question her rogue ways and psychological health; and even those personally close to her such as her grandmother, Mazet (Abigail Kubeka).
However, her greatest challenge is discovering the truth and parties behind the assassination of her mother, Safiya Asaad Sono (Lady Skollie). Safiya, an anti-apartheid activist, was murdered when she and a five-year old Queen were playing in a park.
As she works to get justice, unseen powers are working diligently to stop Queen … permanently. What and who will she risk in order to unravel her mother’s murder twenty-five years prior?! Viewers must see this action-packed series to find out!
Created by Kagiso Lediga, Queen Sono premiered on Netflix, making it the first African original series of the streaming giant. Lediga has done tremendous work in providing a well-written story while dismantling negative stereotypes of Africa, such as it being uncivilized, and bringing light on external countries’ and internal parties’ exploitation of the massive continent’s natural resources. In fact, in an episode, Ekaterina is speaking to a corporate forum in Nairobi, Kenya, and directly provided statistics on Africa: “1.3 billion people; 54 countries (of which 15 are at war); 3,000 languages; 30% of the planet’s mineral supply; and the biggest precious mineral reserves on Earth!”
Queen Sono earned 91% approval at Rotten Tomatoes, where it is posted that, “Queen Sono’s twisty, taut thrills are matched with epic action sequences and soapy delights, making Netflix’s first South African series a smashing good time.” Adding to this global experience are the beautiful cinematography and feature of Afrikaans, English, French, Pretoria Sotho, Russian, Shona, Swahili, Xhosa, Xitsonga, Yoruba and Zulu languages.
Lavishly filmed in Lagos, Nigeria, Johannesburg, South Africa, Nairobi, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania, Queen Sono was to be renewed for a second season. However, Netflix shared that due to the pandemic of COVID-19, the series would be cancelled.
In their statement at ComicBook.com, Netflix shared, “We’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with season 2 of Queen Sono. We are incredibly proud of the Diprente team for sharing their vision and bringing it to life with Netflix. A huge thank you to our fans across the world for the love shared for our first African Original series. Netflix is also grateful to the amazing efforts shown by the cast and crew for their stellar efforts in creating this show for our members around the world. We’ll continue to work closely with South Africa’s creative industry to keep producing more compelling ‘made in South Africa’ stories.”
Hopefully, it will be picked up by another network or a film will be made … AMANDLA!
