Whoopi Goldberg spotted at Edinburgh restaurant ahead of Anansi Boys filming

She dined at Cafe Royal Edinburgh, a bar and restaurant on West Register Street, over the weekend.

The restaurant took to Twitter, where they posted a photograph of the Sister Act star smiling as she posed with staff members.

The managers were clearly won over with the Hollywood actress, as the photo’s caption read: “The lovely Whoopi Goldberg paid us a visit today!”

After months of speculation, it was recently confirmed that Goldberg has been cast in Amazon Studios’ adaptation of Anansi Boys.

The TV show, which is based off of Neil Gaiman’s 2005 fantasy novel of the same name, is filming at FirstStage Studios in Leith.

Goldberg has been cast as Bird Woman, God of Birds, who is one of the major antagonists of the story.

The 66-year-old star said: “I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic.”

Gaiman, who is also showrunner and executive producer, said: “When I first conceived Anansi Boys, decades ago, I imagined Whoopi Goldberg as Bird Woman.

“I wasn’t able to meet her until 2018, when she interviewed me with some of the Good Omens team at New York Comic Con.

“At which point she mentioned that she had just finished listening to Sir Lenny Henry’s reading of Anansi Boys, and that it was one of her favourite books.

“Sometimes things feel planned and inevitable, and we are incredibly lucky. She’s going to be scary.”

Before the announcement, fans had speculated that Goldberg would make an appearance in the series, after Gaiman dropped hints on a Twitter post that read: ‘But I'll give you one clue: one of our cast members was on a public event with me at some point in the last five years’.

While much of Anansi Boys is being shot at Leith's FirstStage Studios, film crews and extras were seen filming near Haymarket last month.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.