In the production of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Letitia Wright wanted to honor their co-star Chadwick Boseman.
The crowd went wild as the actors dominated Hall H at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday, revealing a trailer for their most awaited Marvel sequel.
After their performance, the actors sat down with EW and discussed why it was vital for them to get the movie right. On top of everything, according to them, they expect Wakanda Forever will honor Boseman, who was killed in August 2020 at 43 due to colon cancer.
“The most important thing, of course, was honoring our brother, our leader, and our king,” Gurira said in the interview with EW.
“That was definitely at the forefront of our minds and our spirits and our hearts. There was this amazing impact that the first Black Panther had, so the need, I think, was to really solidify that these characters and this world have an arc. It wasn’t a one-time momentous thing.”
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Black Panther First Movie: A Manual Wakanda Forever Should Follow
The stars are looking to carry on their legacy and make Wakanda Forever just as fantastic as the first film – which smashed box office records and marked the first time a Marvel movie was nominated for the Oscars for Best Picture.
Their goal was to broaden the scope of Panther’s first theme, venture into new areas and strengthen character arcs, said Gurira.
“It’s also important to let go of any expectation that this movie will be Black Panther 1,” Duke chimed in.
“This is going to be its own thing. This narrative has evolved, and it’s changed, just like all the characters and the circumstances of Wakanda itself. For me, in particular, I just had to let go of the expectation of this being anything like the first movie and allow this movie to be its own thing.”
The cast for Wakanda Forever is already known, but it just got bigger, with a new addition – Gurira, Nyong’o, Duke, Wright, and Florence Kasumba. In addition, Tenoch Huerta plays fabled ruler Namor alongside Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli, portraying the characters of Namora and Attuma.
The movie will also see the debut of Michaela Coel as Aneka and Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, an excellent teenage tech inventor who will later be featured in her own Disney+ series, Ironheart.
“It was very surreal for me to jump on this train,” Livinalli stated. “It didn’t feel like it was a sequel. It felt like it was its own thing, and I felt very welcome. I felt like I was part of the family.”
The stars highlight Ryan Coogler’s dedication to Wakanda and stress his “integrity” during production and how he has helmed their story.
“There’s not many directors like Ryan out there,” Write stated.
“The soul and the heart of the film with the writing, and he has a sensitivity to our ideas and how we want to collaborate. [We loved] just having him be the one spearheading these ideas and the structure and just being our leader each day on set. It’s a dream come true to work with him again.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming to theaters on November 11.
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