Literature fuels storytelling fire

Coming from a family of storytellers, the Nigerian director of the hit South African Netflix show is a master storyteller himself. He tells Toni Kan how literature has shaped his approach to directing.

There is a particular kind of creative confidence that comes from knowing the exact origins of one’s artistic impulses. For Akin Omotoso, director and showrunner of the hit Netflix series The Polygamist, that confidence is rooted in literature.

The series is based on a novel by Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi, with creative leadership from Omotoso and executive producer Gugu Zuma-Ncube.

Beginning with a melodramatic scene set around the funeral of the lead character, the story unfolds in flashbacks. The series has been praised for its sheer storytelling power, which has kept audiences glued to their TV sets over 22 episodes and left them calling out for more.

This is hardly surprising – Omotoso comes from a famous family of storytellers. His father was the renowned academic and novelist, Kole Omotoso, while his sister is the critically acclaimed novelist, Yewande Omotoso.

Storytelling is thus much more than a profession for him; it is his lineage. “I plug into the storyteller in me – the one who directs, and the one who aspires to write a book one day.” The novelist within him is alive, waiting, and gathering material with every frame he composes.

His sensitivity to narrative becomes even more clear as we step into the delicate terrain of literary adaptation. Sue Nyathi’s novel is a story rooted in Zimbabwean realities, family dynamics, and cultural tensions, while in The Polygamist, it is transplanted to the screen with Johannesburg as its setting.

Adaptations often provoke friction, with many authors bristling at changes, audiences debating fidelity to the original, and filmmakers defending their choices, but in the case of The Polygamist, the transition from page to TV seems to have happened with unusual harmony. “Sue gave us a gift that we all treasured. She is very happy,” the director says.

The shift in location from Zimbabwe to South Africa, the adjustments in family structure, the liberties taken to serve the rhythm of television – all of it was embraced rather than contested and speaks not just to mutual trust between creator and interpreter, but to a shared belief in the story’s ability to transcend its original borders, something that has been borne out by the positive global reception.

Borders, in fact, are central to the director’s worldview. He thinks in expanses: geographic, emotional, artistic. This expansiveness is evident in the show’s structure: 22 episodes released in one sweeping arc. In an era where streaming platforms often favour shorter seasons and staggered releases, the decision to deliver the entire narrative at once was bold.

But for Omotoso, it was intuitive and a nod to the storyteller in him. “Judging from the response, the format worked well. It’s nice to give audiences everything all at once now and then – like a treat.”

Long arcs

The treat, in this case, is full immersion in the fictional universe of The Polygamist, a chance for viewers to fall into the world of the series without interruption, to live with its characters in a continuous emotional flow.

Omotoso’s career, too, has unfolded in long arcs rather than abrupt chapters. Starting with several short films, he moved into full-length features, including God is African and Man on Ground, which focused on violence spawned by xenophobia. Other titles include Tell Me Sweet Something and Vaya. Vaya won him an Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Director, and he earned critical acclaim for Disney’s Rise, which was about the Greek-Nigerian superstar basketballer, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

How has his craft as a director improved since his humble beginnings? He resists the temptation to compare past and present, allowing only that “every directing experience is its own journey and, in many ways, incomparable. I’m grateful for everything I’ve worked on, and grown from in between.”

That evolution has occurred alongside dramatic shifts in the African film landscape. He praises South Africa’s film infrastructure – its grants, its training programmes, its institutional support, but he is equally attuned to Nigeria’s explosive creative energy.

Today, he sees both ecosystems as being in motion. “The film and TV landscapes have changed a lot in recent years, both locally and globally. I’m amazed by how professionals in both countries continue to grow, learn and create!”

The future is already unfolding. The Polygamist is rapidly becoming one of Africa’s biggest Netflix hits,
drawing audiences across borders and continents.

“I’m obviously happy and thankful that our work resonated with so many people in so many places. Every such story – and especially those that transcend geographical borders – reminds us that we’re not that different after all, and is likely to generate interest in stories and storytellers from places and contexts we haven’t been exposed to before.”

It is a vision of African storytelling as a global force, not peripheral or niche, but central to the world’s cultural conversation.

Unique cultural space

Despite his growing stature behind the camera, he has not entirely abandoned the possibility of returning in front of it, having also worked as an actor in many films to date. When drawn on his next role, he hints playfully at a future cameo. “Maybe one in The Carnivorous City.”

His reflections on the world around him are equally layered. As a Nigeria- born director who has created some of the most compelling South African films of the past decade, and now a successful South African TV series, he occupies a unique cultural space, one shaped by migration, identity, and the tensions of xenophobia.

Yet when probed to comment on the xenophobia unfolding in South Africa, his response is measured. “Every era has its moments – many of them recurring, and with the risk of sounding like a broken record nationally and globally,” he says, adding, “As always, I’m more interested in human beings at every moment” – something that is evident from his oeuvre, which is ultimately about people: their contradictions, their desires, their resilience.

This human-centred approach explains the remarkable range of his work, incorporating short films, a fantasy, a documentary, a sports drama and now,
a sprawling, sensual, emotionally charged series. And when asked what comes next – whether a leap into the Marvel universe or another unexpected genre – he answers with humility, “Only God knows, but continued growth, I hope.”

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