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How Chadwick Boseman Was Honored On Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Set

Published Sat, 05 Nov 2022 14:08:11 -0500

When Chadwick Boseman passed away in August 2020 after a long battle with cancer, many wondered what the future of his Marvel character would be and how the MCU would approach his passing. It became clear early on that they weren't going to recast or do any sort of weird VR type of thing and that his loss would be addressed in the universe somehow. It was apparent that the loss of Boseman deeply impacted everyone from the cast to the crew of Black Panther, and they kept repeating how important it was to keep Boseman in their hearts while shooting the sequel. There were many ways that they could honor him in the movie, but honoring him on the set was a different thing. It's very apparent when someone isn't there on set, especially when they were such a central figure the first time around, and no one wanted to pretend that Boseman hadn't existed or had just decided to sit this one out. Director Ryan Coogler spoke to ScreenRant about how they honored him on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

"Easy. One of the first meetings I had right in pre-production, my AD Don Sparks, who was not with us on the first Black Panther—you had the great Lisa Satriano on that one. But I worked with Donald on Creed when we were in Philadelphia, and Don's a Black man. We jump on this meeting, and it's me and a producer and a couple other folks, and first thing he said is, "Hey, I'm working on this call sheet. I'm numbering the cast, and I figured we should leave number one for Chad. Leave that blank." I had to turn my Zoom camera off because I got a little choked up at the concept of that. But he affected the world, man. When you experience trauma, oftentimes it happens like a bomb. And sometimes, people are right there in that blast radius. A lot of us were there in the radius of it; we knew him. We worked with him for years and forged a bond with him that can only be forged through working on something that everybody cares about passionately. But he affected people that were not in the blast radius too. When you talk about making a Black Panther movie, his presence was right there on that call sheet. Even down to the fine details, we all carry him with us, and we always will."

How Chadwick Boseman was Honored On Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Set — Chadwick Boseman attends the European Premiere of 'Black Panther' at Eventim Apollo in London, UK. Editorial credit: Fred Duval / Shutterstock.com

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Cast, Summary, Release Date

Cast: Letitia Wright (Shuri), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Florence Kasumba (Ayo), Dominique Thorne (Riri Williams), Michaela Coel (Aneka), Mabel Cadena (Namora), Alex Livinalli (Attuma), Tenoch Huerta (Namor), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross), Angela Bassett (Queen Ramonda).

In Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T'Challa's death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena, and Alex Livanalli. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore, opens in U.S. theaters on November 11, 2022.