The Obamas to team with Russo brothers for Netflix adaptation of Exit West

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in 2018, Barack and Michelle Obama joined forces with Netflix to help develop projects for the streaming service. "President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire," said Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president. "Throughout their lives, they have lifted up stories of people whose efforts to make a difference are quietly changing the world for the better. As they consider their future personal plans, they continue to explore new ways to help others tell and share their stories." It seems that one of those stories could be an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's bestselling novel "Exit West," as Collider has reported that the Obamas are in talks to team up with AVENGERS: ENDGAME directors Joe and Anthony Russo to bring the story to life.

"Exit West" follows a young couple, Saeed and Nadia, who live in an unnamed city which is in the middle of a civil war, and finally decide to flee using a system of magical doors which lead to different locations around the globe. Barack Obama included the novel on his list of the best books he read in 2017. Riz Ahmed (VENOM) is attached to star in EXIT WEST with Yann Demange (WHITE BOY RICK) directing from a script by Jessica Goldberg (CHERRY).

A synopsis of "Exit West" via Amazon:

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . . Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.

Collider added that "Netflix and a representative for the Russo brothers had no comment, while representatives for Ahmed and Demange did not respond to requests for comment," so it's probably best not to take this as 100% just yet.