‘Blood Psalms’ Coming February 2022

MultiChoice, M-Net, and Showmax’s 10-episode African mythos series from Yellowbone Entertainment’s Layla Swart and Jahmil X.T Qubeka will premiere on Showmax in February 2022, according to Jahmil X.T Qubeka, who revealed the news in Dubai as part of MultiChoice’s Expo 2020 marketing exercise.

The panel discussion and first time viewing for Blood Psalms, which was inaccessible to South African media, is now the second series in which MultiChoice is doing a foreign cast and crew panel sessions and previews first without similar effort or access given to the local press in South Africa.

Cast members Zolisa Xaluva, who plays soldier Toka, and Zikhona Sodlaka, who plays Sithenjwa, joined Layla Swart and Jahmil X.T Qubeka for MultiChoice’s Blood Psalms panel session, with the two characters who end up marrying each other.

Thando Tabethe is cast as Heka, a god who manifests as a physical entity, alongside Faith Baloyi as Queen Assilli, the court’s adviser with access to magic, and Bokang Pehalane as Princess Zazi, who is attempting to save her people from a world-ending prophecy.

Speaking about Blood Psalms during the panel discussions, Layla Swart said, “I could see it was a big project. But, I was well aware that it was a long shot. And I knew it would be difficult to pitch something so original – something that had never been done before – to any financing partner.”

“We fought hard to do it in vernacular language. The space of such a high-end production is also a space that we hope will be received internationally and globally, which frequently implies that it must be in a language that is accessible,” Swart added.

During the panel discussion, Jahmil X.T Qubeka stated that having heroes is crucial. “However, black South Africans do not have that due to our violent history. We don’t have any archetypes to hold onto.”

“We have Shaka. Perhaps a few here and there. But I speak in the contemporary space. So it is critical that we view ourselves in projections, not just in our existing circumstances but also in our potential. And that, for me, was the main mission: to bring heroes back to life,” Qubeka concluded.