Black Panther 2 to “Honor Chadwick Boseman”

Few details have emerged about Black Panther “Wakanda Forever” but it is clear that it’s going to be very different from the first film after Chadwick Boseman died of cancer at the age of 43 in August 2020. The filmmakers had to rethink how the continuation would work without his character.

In December 2020, Disney announced that a new actor would not be hired to fill the role, adding that the new movie would focus on other characters within the world of Wakanda, the fictional African country where T’Challa was king.

“Honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy & portrayal of T’Challa, @MarvelStudios will not recast the character, but will explore the world of Wakanda & the rich characters introduced in the first film,” the company tweeted.

According to Marvel executive Victoria Alonso, the studio has no plans to digitally recreate Boseman's image for the film.

“There’s only one Chadwick and he’s not with us,” she said

“Our king, unfortunately, died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking time to see how we continue the story and what we do to honor his chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really.” She added

Ryan Coogler, who signed on to write and direct the continuation after directing and co-writing the first, thinks Boseman would love to have everyone involved in the franchise to press on without him.

“I know Chad wouldn’t have wanted us to stop,” he told The Hollywood reporter in March 2021. “He was somebody who was so about the collective. Black Panther, that was his movie. He was hired to play that role before anybody else was even thought of, before I was hired, before any of the actresses were hired.” Ryan Coogler said.

Lupita Nyong'o, who played Nakia in the first film, agreed with the director. “It’s gonna be different, of course, without our king to go back into that world, but I know that all of us are dedicated to reimagining or carrying on his legacy in this new Black Panther,”

“And Ryan Coogler has some really, really exciting ideas that I look forward to bringing to life with the rest of the family.” She added

About the people that will be in the movie, Marvel has kept quiet about who's actually confirmed to return, but Nyong'o, Angella Bassett, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Florence Kasumba and Danai Gurira are all expected to reprise their roles from the first film.

It is also rumoured that Tenoch Huerta is also rumored to be joining the cast as Namor the Sub-Mariner, a Marvel character who first appeared all the way back in 1939.