Showmax debuts trailer for fantasy series ‘Blood Psalms’ in collaboration with Canal+

Showmax has unveiled the official trailer for ‘Blood Psalms’, an epic African fantasy series set to premiere on the streamer on September 28, 2022.

Set in ancient Africa, one thousand days after the fall of Atlantis, ‘Blood Psalms’ explores the story of the five surviving houses of Kemet as they find themselves beset with fears of a prophesied end of days.

South African actress Bokang Phelane plays the lead role as Princess Zazi, a fiercely determined teenage princess who must navigate primordial curses, long-standing ancestral vendettas, and her inexplicable role as the damning prophecy’s chief harbinger.

SAFTA and AMAA winning actor Mothusi Magano plays the mad king Letsha, while SAFTA winner and 2022 DSTV Mzansi Viewers’ Choice nominee, Zolisa Xaluva (Gomora, Knuckle City) plays Zazi’s lover, General Toka, the head of her father’s Akachi army.

“Blood Psalms is the biggest and most ambitious series we’ve ever made, completely unlike any other African series you’ve ever seen,” says Nomsa Philiso, executive head: programming at MultiChoice. “We couldn’t be more excited.”

“This show was specifically created as a reimagining of ourselves as Africans, as an answer to ‘Who are we?’,” says Phelane. “It's done in a very entertaining way, with a lot of drama and action.”

Watch the trailer:

Shot in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West provinces, the series boasts of a star-studded cast including SAFTA winners Bongile Mantsai, Hamilton Dlamini, Hlubi Mboya, S’dumo Mtshali, Siv Ngesi, Thishiwe Ziqubu, and Warren Masemola.

New episodes of the series created by Layla Swart and Jahmil X.T. Qubeka will debut every Wednesday on Showmax for 11 weeks.

“What we’re trying to do is to reclaim the continent’s history from an African perspective,” says Swart. “Blood Psalms has elements of every African culture’s mythology and looks at various different tribes - the Akachi, the Uchawi, the Ku’ua, the Chini, and Great Nziwemabwe - as they migrated south from Kemet, which is now Egypt, and formed their cultures.”

The award-winning duo of Yellowbone Entertainment were responsible for South Africa’s 2020 Oscar entry, ‘Knuckle City.’