Lupita Nyong’o recently spoke to Empire about working on Black Panther 2, revealing that she was uncertain about doing the film without Chadwick Boseman. “I didn’t have doubts – I had dread,” Nyong’o said. She then shared how director Ryan Coogler was already preparing for the sequel before Boseman’s death.
“Ryan had walked me through what the film was going to be when Chadwick was still alive. And so once we lost him, the thought that we could go on, it was just unfathomable to me,” Nyong’o admitted. Interestingly, the Us actress was convinced to work on Black Panther 2 after Coogler shared his plans for Wakanda Forever. “What Ryan ended up sharing with me was just so utterly truthful and beautiful,” Nyong’o said. “By the end of it, I was in tears.” Ryan Coogler’s plan was to put the focus on the supporting characters while also paying tribute to Boseman. “This unique group is more like a band than it is a group of actors, and Chad was our lead singer,” Coogler explained. “So for me, it was like, ‘How do I figure out a song that they can still get up there and sing?’, in light of what we were dealing with.” Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will bring back Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett. They will be joined by Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, Michaela Coel as a new Dora Milaje Aneka, and Tenoch Huerta as Namor. The sequel will premiere in theaters on November 11, 2022.
