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‘Nimona’: New Clip Sees the Titular Shape-Shifter Introduce Herself to the Villainous Knight!! Check It Out!!

It’s been a long road from Nimona‘s humble webcomic beginnings up to the soon-to-be released film adaptation; after multiple delays and a studio closure, audiences will finally be introduced to the titular teenage shape-shifter when the film debuts on Netflix on June 30. Ahead of the release of its trailer next week, a new clip has been shared from the film, which stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed.

The newly released clip gives fans of the long-awaited adaptation their first proper glimpse at the film, bar a previously released short teaser. In the clip, the story’s titular hero Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) meets Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed); Nimona is a shape-shifter who usually takes form as a human girl, while Ballister is a villainous knight, whom Nimona insists on aiding as a sidekick on his mission to destroy the Institution – an entity from which he was cast out after losing an arm in battle.

Joining Grace Moretz and Ahmed in the cast of the film are Eugene Lee Yang who voices Ambrosius Goldenloin, champion knight of the Institution and ex-lover of Ballister’s, Frances Conroy as The Director and Lorraine Toussaint as Queen Valerin. The film’s cast also contains Beck Bennett as Sir Thoddeus Sureblade, RuPaul as Nate Knight, Indya Moore as Alamzapam Davis, Julio Torres as Diego the Squire, and Sarah Sherman as Coriander Cadaverish.

Nimona‘s Long Road to Netflix

The journey from page to screen has been an arduous one for the property: beginning life as a series of webcomics written by ND Stevenson, published from 2012 through to 2014, before being published in print form in 2015, this was followed by the announcement of an animated film adaptation of Nimona all the way back in 2015 by 20th Century Animation. However, things went awry when Disney acquired Fox; it was reported that Disney higher-ups were uncomfortable with the graphic novel’s queer themes. One former employee of Blue Sky Studios (a subsidiary of Fox) said that the studio experienced pushback regarding a kiss between Ballister and Ambrosius, saying, “Blue Sky leadership felt enough pressure in this meeting to leave the kiss out of future presentations to Disney, despite hoping to ultimately include it in the film.” The film experienced several years of delays, before Blue Sky was shut down in 2021, effectively killing the project, which was reportedly around 75% complete. Thankfully, however, Nimona found new life when the rights were acquired by Annapura Pictures, who teamed up with Netflix to distribute the film.

The film was directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, with a screenplay by Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor. Karen Ryan, Julie Zackary and Roy Lee served as the film’s producers. Nimona will (finally!) be released onto Netflix on June 30. Check out the clip below:

via Collider

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