The Woman King Trailer: Viola Davis Is a Not-So-Secret Weapon

glamour.com:

The Woman King. This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King stars Davis as Nanisca, an African commander who led the Agojie, a real-life army of all-female warriors.

In an with V.F., Davis shared that she trained four hours a day, five days a week to physically prepare for the part. “Weight training, sprinting, martial arts, and weaponry training for the machete,” she said. “I like to say that I was the OG warrior.” From the looks of it, the work paid off. “An evil is coming that threatens our kingdom, our freedom” warns a foreboding voiceover as we see shots of intruding white colonizers entering the West African kingdom of Dahomey. “But we have a weapon they are not prepared for.” Silently out of the brush, Nanisca appears, leading a group of warrior women under the cover of darkness.

In the next frame, an unsuspecting white intruder turns and comes face to face with Nanisca's sword. Nanisca goes on to try to convince King Ghezo, played by John Boyega, that the Europeans will stop at nothing to conquer Africa. “War,” says a concerned King Ghezo. “You're asking me to go to war.” “Some things are worth fighting for,” replies a steely-eyed Nanisca.

From there we see Davis's Nanisca train a group of female warriors in the art of combat—preparing them for battle to protect their kingdom.