It was a tough call to make for Marvel and Ryan Coogler to move forward on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever following Chadwick Boseman’s death. The script had already been written, and a good number of fans felt it a better idea to recast the role of T’Challa, seeing it as a way of honoring Boseman by keeping his character alive. But the decision was made that T’Challa would be dead, and the sequel would find the nation of Wakanda in mourning.
So Wakanda Forever went through a complete overhaul, and Coogler revealed to THR that the original plan had been to do a character study told from T’Challa’s perspective as he dealt with the pressures of being king…
“The script we wrote before Chadwick passed was very much rooted in T’Challa’s perspective,” Coogler explained. “It was a massive movie but also simultaneously a character study that delved deeply into his psyche and situation.”
So not only is Wakanda shaken by the loss of T’Challa, but somone new must take over the mantle of Black Panther. As Lupita Nyong’o and producer Nate Moore add, this is the right thing to do and makes the most sense…
“That is not the death of the Black Panther, that’s the whole point,” Nyong’o said. “It’s laying to rest [T’Challa] and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies. I know that there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast, but I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the presence of mind, or I don’t have the objectivity to argue with that. I don’t. I’m very biased.”
Producer Nate Moore added, “The Black Panther has existed in Wakanda for centuries, so the notion of someone else picking up the mantle didn’t seem inorganic.”
From everything that has been teased, it looks as if Shuri will take over as Black Panther. But I’ve been saying all along that I don’t think the movie ends with her in the role.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on November 18th.