The Kitchen

Inside "The Kitchen": How Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares Built a Dystopian London

Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares didn’t just co-direct The Kitchen—they reimagined London as a battleground for housing justice. The 2023 dystopian drama, Kaluuya’s feature directorial debut, merges sci-fi grit with raw social commentary, following Izi (Kane Robinson, aka Kano) and Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) as they fight to survive in The Kitchen, a last-standing social housing community in a gentrified future . But how did this ambitious project come together? latestnetflix.com's view is that the evidence offers glimpses behind the scenes—though some details remain tantalizingly out of reach.

A Dual Vision: Kaluuya and Tavares’ Unlikely Partnership

Kaluuya, best known for his Oscar-winning role in Judas and the Black Messiah and acting turns in Get Out and Black Panther, stepped into directing with The Kitchen, co-helming the project with architect-turned-filmmaker Kibwe Tavares . Tavares, whose short films like Robots of Brixton (2011) explored urban decay through animation, brought a visual and structural precision to the film’s dystopian London. Their collaboration suggests a fusion of Kaluuya’s narrative instincts and Tavares’ world-building expertise—though the specifics of their creative process remain largely unconfirmed in the available evidence.

What is clear is the film’s bold aesthetic. Reviews describe The Kitchen as "visually impressive," with a near-future London that feels both alien and eerily familiar . The film’s production design, led by an uncredited team (details scarce in the snippets), reportedly leaned into the contrast between the sterile, gentrified city and the chaotic, lived-in warmth of The Kitchen itself. Think neon-lit high-rises looming over a community clinging to its roots—a visual metaphor for displacement that Tavares, with his background in architecture, likely shaped.

Casting Kano: From Grime to the Big Screen

Kane Robinson, the grime artist known as Kano, takes on his first major film role as Izi, a character navigating the moral complexities of survival in The Kitchen. Robinson’s casting is one of the film’s most intriguing behind-the-scenes stories. While the evidence doesn’t confirm whether Kaluuya or Tavares pursued him specifically, Robinson’s background in London’s underground music scene aligns perfectly with the film’s themes of community and resistance .

Robinson isn’t the only musician in the cast. BACKROAD GEE, a rising star in the UK drill scene, also appears, hinting at a deliberate effort to blend authentic London voices into the film’s fabric . Whether this was a creative choice to ground the story in real-world cultural tensions or simply a nod to the city’s musical legacy remains unconfirmed—but it’s a detail that adds texture to the film’s world.

Netflix’s Gamble on a Sobering Debut

The Kitchen premiered on Netflix in 2023, marking the streaming giant’s bet on a socially charged sci-fi drama. Reviews suggest the film’s ambition outpaced its execution, with critics praising its visuals and themes but noting a "modest intent" beneath the spectacle . Deadline’s review describes it as a "sober debut," a phrase that captures the film’s tone: urgent but not preachy, immersive but not escapist .

The evidence doesn’t reveal Netflix’s involvement in the film’s development, but the platform’s track record of backing bold, diverse voices makes it a fitting home for Kaluuya and Tavares’ vision. Whether The Kitchen will spawn a franchise or remain a standalone experiment is unclear—though the snippets offer no hints of sequels or spin-offs.

What We Still Don’t Know

For all its ambition, The Kitchen keeps much of its behind-the-scenes story under wraps. Key questions remain unanswered in the available evidence:

• Budget and logistics: How much did Netflix invest, and what challenges did the team face filming in London’s real-life housing estates?
• Script evolution: The screenplay is credited to Kaluuya and Joe Murtagh , but how did their collaboration shape the story’s balance between dystopia and social realism?
• Reception beyond reviews: Did the film spark conversations about housing inequality in the UK, or did it fade into the noise of Netflix’s crowded catalog?

Without deeper access to interviews or production notes, these details stay in the realm of speculation. What’s certain is that The Kitchen stands as a rare beast: a sci-fi film that doubles as a protest sign, wielding spectacle to demand attention for real-world issues.