Veteran Nollywood filmmaker Kunle Afolayan has addressed growing criticism surrounding his latest Netflix release, Anikulapo Series 2: The Ghoul Awakens, insisting that the project was intentionally crafted for a discerning audience rather than mainstream tastes.
In a video posted on his Instagram page on Tuesday, the award-winning director said he does not expect every viewer to understand or appreciate his style of storytelling. According to him, his films are designed for audiences who value layered narratives, depth, and thought-provoking themes.
Afolayan maintained that his creative focus has always been on intellectually engaging cinema rather than action-driven spectacle.
“Something that is very peculiar with the kind of film we make—we make films for the intellectual, not ‘gbas gbos,’” he said. “We make films for people who can think. I don’t even expect that everybody will like the film or understand it, but I expect that the people I had in mind when conceiving the idea will get it—and they got it.”
The filmmaker revealed that he has received positive feedback from academics and scholars, which he described as validating.
“I’ve read from scholars, professors, deep thinkers—people who think beyond now—and I’ve heard from them. I just want to say I appreciate it,” he added.
Addressing concerns about the pacing and complexity of the storyline, Afolayan explained that Anikulapo Series 2 was conceived as a multi-episode series from the outset, making it impossible to resolve its themes within a single installment. He likened the project to epic television productions such as Game of Thrones, where audiences must follow multiple episodes to grasp the broader narrative arc.
“It is a series that has many episodes, and what you have seen are just a few. How do you conclude that it is not good when you haven’t seen the entire thing?” he queried. “When you watch series like Game of Thrones, you wait weekly for new episodes. You haven’t even seen everything, and you’ve concluded that the stories are all over the place.”
The producer also suggested that a deeper understanding of literature and narrative structure is required to fully grasp the project’s themes. While declining to mention specific critics, he dismissed some negative commentary as inconsequential.
“For us, we will keep appealing to those who have common sense,” Afolayan concluded.
Anikulapo Series 2: The Ghoul Awakens continues the story from the original film, expanding its mythological and historical elements into a broader episodic format.