While the world continues to mourn the loss of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, many are wondering about what the future holds for the Black Panther brand following the actor’s sudden passing. In late 2020 during Disney‘s annual Investors Day presentation, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that while the Black Panther franchise will indeed continue, Marvel has no plans to recast the T’Challa character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So how will the series continue without its star?
Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler are hard at work developing a sequel to 2018’s record breaking Black Panther film. Even with the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, Marvel and Coogler believe that there are plenty of stories worth telling to be found in the fictional African nation of Wakanda.
Rather than recasting the title role, Kevin Feige recently confirmed in an interview with Deadline that the film will instead shift focus to the other characters that have been introduced in the world of Black Panther. The plan is to further explore the deeper lore from the history of the Marvel Comics characters from the world of Wakanda.
As Feig explains:
So much of the comics and that first movie is the world of Wakanda. Wakanda is a place to further explore with characters and different subcultures. This was always and initially the primary focus of the next story.
Feige was adamant that Marvel has no plans to recast Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, nor will they resort to having him appear via CGI as Disney has done in the past for select roles in their Star Wars franchise. The team at Marvel has the utmost respect for the work Chadwick Boseman did in the role of T’Challa and want to honor him while also respecting his memory:
We’re not going to have a CG Chadwick and we’re not recasting T’Challa. Ryan Coogler is working very hard right now on the script with all the respect and love and genius that he has, which gives us great solace, so it was always about furthering the mythology and the inspiration of Wakanda. There’s also the task of honoring and respecting the ongoing learnings and teachings from Chad as well.
Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso also weighed in on the future of the franchise ahead of the Investors Day presentation late last year. Alonso was able to confirm that there were no plans to recreate Boseman’s likeness digitally or to recast the character, saying:
No. There’s only one Chadwick, and he’s not with us. Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we return to history and what we do to honor this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really.
The currently untitled Black Panther sequel from Ryan Coogler is still in development and is currently set to release on July 8, 2022. While casting has not been confirmed for the film, many assume that the majority of the first film’s supporting cast will be returning including Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens), Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), Winston Duke (Us), Letitia Wright (Small Axe), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out). and Angela Bassett (Soul).
Who do you think should be the focus of the new Black Panther film? What new Marvel Comics characters would you like to see join the Black Panther sequel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more updates on the Black Panther sequel!
