'Wakanda Forever' Cast and Crew Discuss Their Thoughts on Moving Forward After Chadwick's Passing

When Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman passed away in the summer of 2020, it was a shock to the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and the world. But director Ryan Coogler and the producers wanted the story to go on.

After all, the first installment, Black Panther (2018), was a box office success thanks to Boseman's performance as T'Challa and the Black Panther, and of course, many fans wanted more. Coogler and President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, among many other Wakanda Forever cast and crew members, recently divulged their Wakanda Forever thought process at a Virtual Global Press Conference on Oct. 28 in the aftermath of Boseman’s tragic passing.

“…[I]n my memory of it, it was, the shock turned into, well, you know, what do we do,” Feige asked. “What should we do? Should we do anything, he asked in the conference. “And I think relatively soon, it was determined that this amazing ensemble of characters and this world that had been created on screen needed to continue.”

Feige said Coogler was already in the process of creating a version of the movie with T’Challa in it, pouring Coogler’s life experience from making the first movie into the next.

Then when Boseman passed, Feige said, it was about pouring his death into the next movie, keeping the idea of the celebration of Wakanda alive and well.

Producer Nate Moore, who is known for movies such as Black Panther, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Eternals, concurred. And at the press conference, he said it was about honesty and telling the truth, but it’s also about joy, and sometimes humor.

“It is all of the emotions anyone feels with any profound loss,” Moore said. “But we had such a collection of talent and such a collection of characters, who all have different points of view with that loss, that I think Ryan found ways to express all the different colors of grief through the ensemble. … So, I think Ryan was savvy enough as a filmmaker and storyteller to weave all those themes across the entirety of the film.”

The press conference further goes into the cosmetics of the film, including who would be included in the soundtrack for the movie. Last year, it was Kendrick Lamar with his song All of the Stars. This year, Coogler said Rihanna helped find an artist by the name of Tems, and the Grammy-award winner and billionaire singer helped write the song, No Woman No Cry. The song ended up being recorded on three different continents.

Then the discussion shifts to the heart of the movie, Shuri, played by actress Letitia Wright, and why T’Challa’s little sister was so important for the next movie.

“…[W]hen she loses that, it makes her very unmoored, you know? And the tricky thing about that is, death comes for everybody, you know what I mean, is the truth of it,” Coogler said. “And the worst nightmare that you can have is if something were to happen to you, the people who you love and leave behind would be unmoored, would be lost after you were one … And it wasn’t really about gender, directly. It was about who was the most or would be most affected.

Wakanda Forever will be open to the public in theaters on Nov. 11.