According to director Ryan Coogler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had one question central to the development of the upcoming MCU film: 'How do you carry on in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds?'
Speaking to Empire, Coogler discussed the film that will deal with the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, the star of the original Black Panther that has played T'Challa in the MCU since Captain America: Civil War. He said the question, which even helped form a version of the film that was "spiritually very similar" to the sequel before Boseman's passing, became even more meaningful after the actor's death and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Unfortunately, that question became more and more relevant," Coogler said. "Both for humanity as a whole, but also for the people in our production who were coming back for this one. It became super-relevant when we lost our bro.”
As for how Coogler and the team have tackled that question, he reveals that he is leaning on the supporting cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to keep this story alive, including Letitia Wright's Shuri, Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda, Winston Duke's M'Baku, and Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia.
“This unique group is more like a band than it is a group of actors, and Chad was our lead singer,” Coogler said. “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.”
This is obviously easier said than done, and even Nyong'o admitted that she had something greater than doubts about the project initially, she had "dread." Fortunately, Coogler had a clear vision for something that would "honor both T'Challa, and Chadwick Boseman himself - and Nyong'o's fears were quelled."
“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 said. "What Ryan ended up sharing with me was just so utterly truthful and beautiful. By the end of it, I was in tears.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released in theaters on November 11, 2022. For more, check out why Namor is a villain in the film and our breakdown of the sequel's first trailer.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/black-panther-wakanda-forever-looks-to-answer-how-we-move-on-despite-insurmountable-odds