David Oyelowo’s ‘Rocketeer’ Sequel Halted Amid “Performative” DEI

As David Oyelowo and wife Jessica‘s production company expands its repertoire, they’ve faced an uphill battle in terms of representation.

The 3x Golden Globe nominee recently teased their Yoruba Saxon banner’s upcoming adaptation of Tọlá Okogwu’s Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun and their long-gestating Rocketeer sequel, as they navigate “performative” inclusion that came from the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd’s death in 2020.

“Onyeka is an absolute bull’s-eye for what we are looking to make, but it is also symptomatic of the challenge we have,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “We gained traction with that project in the wake of the George Floyd murder and in a moment where there was a cultural correction and people seemed to want to do better.”

David continued, “But now we’re in a moment where it’s evident that a lot of that was performative and not bone-deep. Projects like that suddenly become challenged. Onyeka being one, Return Of The Rocketeer at Disney being another.”

Despite the latest attacks on DEI, David and Jessica intend to keep making the same inclusive work they’ve always made. “Attack on DEI or not, we’ve been doing it before there was all this energy around it and we will be doing it after,” he added.

In August 2021, Deadline reported that Disney+ had teamed with Yoruba Saxon for The Return of the Rocketeer, an Ed Ricourt-penned sequel to the 1991 film. In addition to producing with Jessica, David was in talks to star in the followup.

The next year, he and Will Smith joined Netflix’s Onyeka, based on the series of books about a teenager who learns she has powers, subsequently traveling to Nigeria to learn more about her origins. There, she discovers a threat to her newfound magical community.