After making history with Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters (LBMM) in 2020, Nigeria’s first feature-length animated film, executive producer Blessing Amidu is back, this time with her daughter Emmanuella Amidu as the screenwriter.
Secrets of the Multiverse is a high-stakes, sci-fi comic adventure that follows two children accidentally thrown into the multiverse, where they must confront moral dilemmas, existential threats, and questions of leadership that even adults struggle with.
But beyond the dazzling animation and gripping premise lies an even more inspiring story: a mother-daughter creative partnership rooted in faith, resilience, and a shared vision of telling African stories with global relevance.
A spin-off of LBMM, Secrets of the Multiverse dives deeper into themes of leadership, morality, and sacrifice. “It examines what a leader is willing to do to protect their people,” Blessing explains. “Is it ever okay to commit a wrong if it serves the greater good? What does morality look like in a world of scarcity, fear, and survival?”
Set in a futuristic, morally complex universe, the show is anything but your typical kids’ cartoon. Designed to appeal to both children and adults, SOTM promises thought-provoking storytelling wrapped in a visually rich package. And it all began with a short story Emmanuella wrote during her university break.
Blessing didn’t plan to hand the screenplay to her daughter at first. In search of a compelling sequel, she explored hiring professional writers but found the process both costly and underwhelming.
A staggering quote of $3,000 per episode led her to rethink things. She remembered that Emmanuella, an economics major studying abroad, often dabbled in short stories.
What happened next stunned even her. Emmanuella’s first draft was so gripping, the project’s director, Adebisi Adetayo, asked if it had been written by AI. “It blew my mind,” Blessing recalls. “Each episode only got better. She just kept writing, and we couldn’t stop reading.”
Now the young writer has completed all 13 episodes while juggling the rigours of university life. “Schooling abroad is tough,” Emmanuella admits. “There were times I had to drop the script to focus on exams, but I always came back to it. This is what I love to do.”
Though set in an imagined multiverse, SOTM is deeply rooted in African identity. For Emmanuella, telling this story was a way to stay connected to home. “When we move abroad, we can lose touch with our culture.
Writing Secrets of the Multiverse helped me remember who I am and show others what makes us proud to be African.”
The show’s protagonist is a girl, and although it’s not explicitly about the girl child, the implications are powerful. “We want young people, especially girls, to see that they can do anything,” Blessing says. “With resilience, with teamwork, they can exceed even their wildest dreams.”
To ensure the show’s global competitiveness, Blessing brought on not just Nigerian director Adebisi Adetayo but also Hollywood co-director Robert Sledge.
“Collaboration is how we grow,” she says. “It’s knowledge sharing, skill transfer, and creative synergy all in one. The end goal is to take this show global.”
The production maintains its 4K resolution standard, just like LBMM, which even earned praise from Disney for its quality. “We’re not going below 4K,” Blessing affirms. “We want to be globally marketable and proud of what we produce.”
Funding, Distribution, and the Future of Nigerian Animation
Despite the growing talent pool in Nigeria, studios like 32AD, Magic Carpet, and Spoof Animation, funding remains a colossal barrier. “Animation is expensive,” Blessing notes. “And getting access to funds from institutions like the Bank of Industry is often difficult due to high collateral requirements.”
Another major challenge is distribution. “You can upload a live-action film to YouTube, but animation needs premium platforms, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+. Without access to these, profitability remains elusive.”
But things are changing. With projects like Iwaju and Mikolo gaining traction, and Secrets of the Multiverse on the horizon, the animation space is maturing quickly. “By the time we release the first six episodes in 2026,” Blessing predicts, “you’ll see that Nigerian animation has arrived.”
