Black-Owned Animation Studio Lion Forge Announces New ‘Iyanu’ Film

Iyanu: The War of Twin Princes is the latest feature-length animated film from Black-owned animation studio Lion Forge Entertainment. The movie premieres on Cartoon Network on July 11, with streaming on HBO Max beginning the following day. The announcement was made at WonderCon 2026, where the panel “Iyanu Returns: An Exclusive Look at Season 2” drew an enthusiastic crowd at the Anaheim Convention Center.

For longtime fans, the news marks an exciting new chapter for the franchise. And for anyone who has yet to discover Iyanu, the upcoming film offers the perfect place to jump in.

The Story

The War of Twin Princes is set in Elu, the prosperous heart of Yorubaland. Oba Adedeji, the kingdom’s revered ruler, faces an impossible task. He has to name an heir from among his twin sons, Prince Debo and Prince Laja. One is bold and decisive. The other is thoughtful and restrained. The king refuses to choose, and the refusal tears the kingdom apart.

The resulting conflict, as showrunner and creator Roye Okupe has described it, is “a story about power, legacy, and the cost of indecision.” It is also a prequel that unlocks the deeper mythology of the franchise, exploring the origins of Queen Adura and the People of the Deep, the antagonist and faction at the center of Season 2. For viewers who are already following the series, War of Twin Princes is the backstory that makes everything else click into place.

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Both twin princes are voiced by Femi Bakes, a performance choice that carries its own meaning. There are two faces of the same coin, shaped by the same origins, driven toward very different ends. Serah Johnson returns as Iyanu, and Faith Gesiere-Agua reprises her role as Adura.

The film was also an Official Selection at the 2026 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, a recognition that places it in the company of some of the continent’s most celebrated storytelling.

What Makes Iyanu Different

It is worth pausing on what this franchise actually represents, because it is genuinely unlike most of what has come before it.

Iyanu began as a graphic novel by Nigerian creator Roye Okupe. It was published through his YouNeek Studios in partnership with Dark Horse Comics. Okupe spent more than 15 years building the world before it reached animation, starting with a Kickstarter campaign and holding the vision together through years of rejections and rewrites. The animated series, which debuted on Cartoon Network and Max in April 2025, is the result of that persistence.

 

 

The show is set in the magical kingdom of Yorubaland and draws deeply from Yoruba culture, mythology, and history. It follows Iyanu, a teenage orphan who discovers divine powers that rival the ancient deities of her people. She must use them to confront an ancient curse threatening to destroy humanity. It is a superhero story, but one built from African cosmology rather than imported mythology.

Crucially, the series features an all-Nigerian voice cast. Names like Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Stella Damasus, and Shaffy Bello bring a cultural authenticity that is felt in every scene. Yoruba words and phrases are woven into the dialogue naturally, not as novelty but as texture. The world does not feel like Africa reimagined for outside consumption. It feels like a story that was always meant to be told this way.

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Lion Forge Entertainment, the Black-owned studio behind the Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love, produces the series. Season 1 earned nominations for Outstanding Children’s Program and Outstanding Animated Series at the 57th NAACP Image Awards.

Why You Need To Tune In

There is a larger conversation happening in global entertainment right now about whose stories get told, in what form, and with whose voice. Iyanu sits right at the center of that conversation.

African mythologies are ancient, layered, and extraordinarily rich. The Yoruba tradition alone, with its orishas, oral histories, and complex cosmology, deserves its place in preservation. Also, it offers as much material as any mythology that has shaped Western animation and storytelling for decades. What has been missing, historically, is not the source material. It has been the infrastructure, the investment, and the platforms that have carried these stories to scale.

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Iyanu is evidence that the infrastructure is being built. A Black-owned studio. A Nigerian creator who maintained creative control through a 15-year journey. An all-African cast. Distribution across Cartoon Network and Max in the United States, Showmax across 44 African countries, ITVX in the UK, and ABC in Australia. A franchise now in its second season, with feature films expanding the universe.

The War of Twin Princes is not just a movie about a kingdom choosing an heir. It is part of a much larger story about African creativity claiming its place on the world stage, not as a curiosity, but as a franchise.

Mark Your Calendar

Iyanu: The War of Twin Princes premieres on Cartoon Network on July 11, 2026, with streaming available on HBO Max from July 12. Season 2 of the series is currently airing weekly, with new episodes also available on Max the day after broadcast.

If you have not started watching yet, now is the time.

Main Image: Iyanu: The War of Twin Princes Teaser Trailer screenshot