Amandla Stenberg to star in DARKEST MINDS movie

If you’ve been counting down the seconds until casting is announced for The Darkest Minds movie, you can stop the clock: we have our Ruby.

Amandla Stenberg will play Ruby in the adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In The Darkest Minds, Ruby is sent to Thurmond, a government “rehabilition camp” after awakening with powers she cannot control. She escapes and joins a group of kids, but after what happened with her parents, Ruby won’t let herself get close to anybody – even when strangers want to use Ruby in their fight against the government.

The movie, which has been underway since script writer Chad Hodge became attached to the film in 2014, recently landed its director in Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who will make her live-action directorial debut with the film. Shawn Levy of 21 Laps and Fox will produce the film.

Stenberg’s seeing a recent surge in popularity, undoubtedly due to their extreme talent on the screen; though they began their career as Rue in the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, fans will be seeing them on screen as Maddy in the movie adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s bestselling Everything Everything and Starr in the movie adaptation of A.C. Thomas’s 2017 debut novel The Hate U Give. Stenberg is also one of the writers behind the comic series Niobe.

Amandla Stenberg signs copies of her YA comic NIOBE at New York Comic Con in 2015. Photo by Nicole Brinkley.

Author Alexandra Bracken, who has been nothing but enthusiastic about Stenberg’s casting, has been dealing with a deluge of upset, racist fans on her social media accounts. Though her Anonymous asks are now turned off, one fan described her as a “young white social justice warrior. They like to ruin everything and make their own race out to be horrible people.” Bracken has responded to these comments in stride, with “I’m pretty surprised you even liked these books, given they’re centered on the idea of building a safe, welcoming community and finding acceptance regardless of who you are, what you look like, and what you can do.” and that fans they could ““

The Darkest Minds is available now.

Feature photo from .