‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Cast and Crew Discuss Dealing With Chadwick Boseman’s Loss
Since we learned about the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020, there has been a cloud of misfortune surrounding the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Director Ryan Coogler, backed by Marvel Studios, decided to move forward with the production without their leading man and opted not to recast the character of T’Challa.
Almost two years after Kevin Feige announced that decision during Disney’s Investor Day in December 2020, the Marvel exec looks back at his resolution and reiterates it. Speaking to Empire Magazine as part of their coverage of the new film in their new issue, Feige said the following about not recasting T’Challa:
“It just felt like it was much too soon to recast. Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan poured that into the story.”
Judging by the trailer that premiered during Comic-Con alone, it is very evident that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be about trying to process the loss of their beloved leader, much like the cast and crew are still trying to process the loss of their friend. Coogler, speaking to Empire, said as much:
“Unfortunately, that question became more and more relevant. Both for humanity as a whole, but also for the people in our production who were coming back for this one. It became super-relevant when we lost our bro.
Maturity is about being faced with impossible questions, and still making a choice and moving forward. This unique group is more like a band than it is a group of actors, and Chad was our lead singer. So for me, it was like ‘How do I figure out a song that they can still get up there and sing?’ in light of what we were dealing with.”
Feige also added that the entire conversation surrounding the movie was about how to live up to Boseman’s legacy and the impact he’d left on this world:
“The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’ And how could the legacy of Chadwick – and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas – continue? That’s what it was all about.”
Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Nakia in the movie, expressed to Empire that she was also very apprehensive about moving forward without Chadwick Boseman… until she heard the pitch:
“I didn’t have doubts – I had dread. Ryan had walked me through what the film was going to be when Chadwick was still alive. And so once we lost him, the thought that we could go on, it was just unfathomable to me.
What Ryan ended up sharing with me was just so utterly truthful and beautiful. By the end of it, I was in tears.”
Letitia Wright (Shuri) also explained how playing her character finally allowed her to process all her emotions:
“Shuri’s journey has allowed me to grieve, to cry, to laugh, and to gain strength that I never thought I could ever have. Trials and tribulations make you who you are. You either fold or you get up and go again. I feel like Shuri kept looking at me every day, asking me if I was gonna fold or go again. And I just kept going until healing started to happen for me.”
With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever just over a month away from release, we are bound to get a new trailer any day now. And from that moment on, it is inevitable that the floodgates of the marketing campaign will open, much like they did for Thor: Love and Thunder in June. So stay tuned for that!
The Black Panther sequel will arrive in theaters on November 11.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
