Black Panther: Wakanda Forever writer-director Ryan Coogler has revealed how the movie script changed after the death of Chadwick Bosemanand what the movie was originally going to focus on.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Coogler explained that the Black Panther sequel was originally a much more intimate story centered on Boseman’s T’Challa. However, following his death in 2020, Marvel decided not to cast another actor for the character, and Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole wrote a different script.
“The script we wrote before Chadwick passed away was very rooted in T’Challa’s perspective,” Coogler said. “It was a massive movie but also simultaneously a character study that delved into his psyche and his situation.”
The rewrite would take that original story, acknowledging T’Challa’s death, and instead focus on the point of view of a different (yet unrevealed) character who would become the new Black Panther. “Black Panther has existed in Wakanda for centuries, so the idea of someone else picking up the mantle didn’t seem inorganic,” said Wakanda Forever producer Nate Moore. “But once that had to come true, then it was, ‘OK, what makes the most sense for the story? Who really makes the most sense to take this on?’
Although we still don’t have a confirmed name for the new Black Panther, the movie will focus on his journey as Wakanda is once again under threat. However, it doesn’t ignore T’Challa’s death (or Boseman’s), as Lupita Nyong’o (who plays Nakia) said the script was rewritten to reflect both actor and character’s grief.
“Ryan wrote something that honored the truth of what each of us felt, those of us who knew Chadwick,” he said. “He created something that could honor that and carry the story forward. At the end, I cried.”
As for who takes on the role of Black Panther, a trailer from early October along with some leaked LEGO sets all but confirms who it will be, though Marvel hasn’t made it official yet and likely won’t until the movie is released next month. month.
