Movies

How Sequel Creators Chose The New Black Panther, And Major Midcredits Reveal

November 22, 2022

Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman and Letitia Wright in Black Panther. (Photo: © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection)

For the entire promotional tour of Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverDirector and co-writer Ryan Coogler has opened up about what the original script for the long-awaited sequel looked like before Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death in 2020.

Coogler would say that a major theme was always grief, with Boseman’s King T’Challa dealing with the pain of losing five years on Earth due to being a victim of Thanos’ fall at the end of Avengers: Infinity War (while the Wakandans of the finished product have to deal with the pain of losing T’Challa).

But there’s something vital the filmmaker couldn’t say, because it would spoil the film’s deeply moving mid-credits scene, in which it’s revealed that Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and the late superhero had a young son (also named T’Challa, but as Touissant in Haiti where he lives with his mother).

Coogler had planned for T’Challa to become a father all along, which is why he mourned those lost years on Earth.

“Honestly, that’s what [original] the script was on point,” Coogler tells us when asked what kind of deliberations went into giving T’Challa and Nakia a son. “It was about T’Challa becoming a father. So there was no deliberation. It was the movie we were making. And so [Boseman died]and we moved it around a bit.

Says producer Nate Moore of this first version of the script: “In Ryan’s mind, he wanted to explore the notion of T’Challa dealing with fatherhood for the first time. So it wasn’t a reaction to anything… It was a pretty interesting story idea. And [then when Boseman] adopted, it didn’t seem appropriate to abandon it for that reason alone.

“It’s also definitely not supposed to say, ‘Oh hey, get ready for the new kid on the block.’ It’s more like, ‘Oh, hey, what an interesting story point. And I think that really dimensions Nakia’s relationship with the man and shows you the depth of their commitment to each other, that which I think is quite powerful.

Still, Coogler, Moore, Kevin Feige and the rest of the Marvel brain trust deserve kudos for coming up with such an elegant solution to what has become a major fan debate in the years since Boseman’s death: You Should Challa be recast? Fans would point to the fact that there have been three Spider-Men in the last 20 years. Opponents said it was disrespectful to recast so soon.

With the introduction of a very young T’Challa, it sounds like Marvel is basically saying there could very well be a new T’Challa one day… but not too soon. Right?

“Yeah,” Coogler mutters after a long pause.

Moore is more committed: “Exactly. I think you are right, and the end of the film is not [saying] get ready for the next one, it’s just, ‘Hey, there’s a T’Challa. It’s not the one we all know and have lost. And I think it’s more respectful of the loss for that reason.

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, (aka BLACK PANTHER II), Letitia Wright, 2022. © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Films / Courtesy Everett Collection — Letitia Wright in *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever*. (Photo: © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection)

Of course, Marvel had no choice but to replace Boseman when it came to the Black Panther mantle. Even that provided months of fan speculation, with no official announcement ahead of release, and a trailer that teased who it would be. Her sister Shuri (Letitia Wright)? Nakia? Okoye by Danai Gurira? Winston Duke’s M’Baku?

In the end, they went with the more obvious choice, the one they hardly seemed to be trying to hide too hard. Just look at the film’s marketing and cinema posters, with Wright’s dead center Shuri standing idly by in the Wakanda salute. Shuri also became Black Panther in the comics, coincidentally in a storyline also involving wakanda foreverthe main antagonist of Namor (Tenoch Huerta).

“That was the only conversation we had,” Moore says. “It’s interesting because we’re aware of online conversations. But I’m also a big fan of comics. If you think about editing, it was kind of unavoidable. And when you think about it narratively, with the story that we were telling, she’s most affected by T’Challa’s passing. And she may be the only one with the tools to bring back the Black Panther Mantle, because if you remember the first movie, Killmonger destroyed all the heart-shaped grass anyway.

“So from a narrative standpoint, it made sense. And from a purist perspective, I think that’s really the only choice. Calls for M’Baku or Okoye were a bit like throwing darts at a dart board to me… And Letitia Wright nailed it. And Shuri’s transition from where she starts to where she ends in this movie tells the story of why she should be Black Panther.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever play now.