African Queens (TV series)

• Adesuwa Oni as Queen Nzinga
• Eshe Asante as Ndambi
• Marilyn Nnadebe as Funji
• Chipo Kureya as Kambu
• Philips Nortey as King Mbande

• Adele James as Cleopatra
• Craig Russell as Mark Antony
• John Partridge as Julius Ceasar
• James Marlowe as Octavian
• Andira Crichlow as Arsinoe

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.[9] Metacritic assigned African Queens: Njinga a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10] Ellen E. Jones of The Guardian was critical of the first series, awarding it 2 out of 5 stars, saying that "This tale of a 17th-century African female ruler features impressive academics, but they're drowned out by poor-quality dramatic sequences. It lacks context, analysis or personality."[11] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter was also critical, saying that the format limited the ability to go deeply into the subject.[12] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, praised the first series and gave it three out of four stars.[13] Luke Peppa of the Financial Times cited Black Panther as a watershed for telling African stories, and that much of the stories of the continent have not been told.[14]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10.[15] Metacritic assigned Queen Cleopatra a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[16] Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph gave it just 2 out of 5 stars, saying, "It's too soapy for serious history fans, and not enough of a soap for viewers who like juicy historical dramas."[17] The Indian Express writer Rohan Naahar says the series "tells the legendary monarch's tale with all the dramatic heft of a Wikipedia article."[18]

Cleopatra was played by Adele James in the second season's fictional recreation scenes. James is a British actress who is Black and of mixed ancestry; her skin color caused controversy over the depiction of Cleopatra's race.[19]

The government of Egypt responded to the casting decision negatively. Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities stated that the series represented a "falsification of Egyptian history."[2] The Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archeology through the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities released a statement on the issue, saying that "Queen Cleopatra was light-skinned and (had) Hellenic features." They cited coins, statues, and other depictions of Cleopatra as evidence, adding "far from any ethnic racism, stressing full respect for African civilizations and for our brothers in the African continent that brings us all together."[20][21] Former antiquities minister and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass was critical of the second season. He said, "This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light skinned, not black," adding that "Netflix is trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilisation is black."[22][23][19]

Other responses from Egypt include an Egyptian lawyer who sued to block Netflix in the country, alleging that Netflix was promoting Afrocentrism and attempting to erase Egyptian history.[24] The Egyptian channel, al-Wathaeqya, announced it was producing a documentary about the "true" life of Cleopatra in response to the "revisionism" of the Netflix series.[25][26] Several evening talk shows on Egyptian television discussed and criticized the series as well.[2]

Director Gharavi defended the casting, stating, "Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress".[22] Producers of the series stated that "[Cleopatra's] ethnicity is not the focus of Queen Cleopatra, but we did intentionally decide to depict her of mixed ethnicity to reflect theories about Cleopatra’s possible Egyptian ancestry and the multicultural nature of ancient Egypt."[1] Adele James questioned the validity of the concept of "blackwashing" and expressed her disappointment with racial perceptions "that people are either so self-loathing or so threatened by Blackness that they feel the need to do that, to separate Egypt from the rest of the continent".[27][28]