We’re now less than a week away from the release of Wakanda Forever: Black PantherThe excitement is palpable. Fans of the MCU will love the Black Panther franchise can’t wait to see this movie, and Marvel keeps releasing exciting new footage on a regular basis. We still have to wonder what movie this is. Wakanda Forever would have been if Chadwick Boseman hadn’t tragically passed away.
Ryan Coogler, the director and writer of both films, spoke out about the script in an interview. It is not surprising that the sequel would have dealt with grief, though for different reasons.
Before we can tell you, you need to know this. Wakanda ForeverSpoilers may be found below.
Wakanda ForeverWithout Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman, who had been fighting colon cancer for several years, died August 2020. Marvel was not among them. Before he could start to work on the project, that was in August 2020. Wakanda Forever sequel. It also happened at a time in which the world was still dealing the initial months of the pandemic.
In light of this sad development, Marvel had to make a major decision. Kevin Feige & Co. chose not to recast T’Challa. They moved on with a new story that would highlight the actor and the character. T’Challa dies in the MCU, as we found out from the emotional first trailer.
Wakanda will still be grieving its protector, but it will go on. And the MCU story will move forward in a way that’s respectful of Boseman’s legacy. That’s something we know from a different interview with Ryan Coogler.
This is the point where we’ll tell you that the film’s entire plot has leaked in great detail. Same goes for Wakanda Forever’s Credits scene.
But we won’t get into any of those details here.
Only one thing can spoil the fun: Wakanda ForeverThe movie that will never happen. It’s the original story that would have featured the late Chadwick Boseman.
Black Panther 2Chadwick Boseman
Ryan Coogler Submitted InverseWhat the movie would look like if Boseman had been able make it. The film would have explored the effects of the Endgame. Specifically, it would have been about T’Challa’s grief.
“The tonal shift, I will say, was less of a shift than in [casting],” Coogler said.
T’Challa would have mourned the loss of time, the five years that Thanos (Josh Brolin) stole from him and half of the universe when he snapped his fingers in Infinity War.
Black Panther 2 would have been a movie about T’Challa struggling to resume his life after the Blip.
“The tone was going to be similar,” Coogler says. “The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back. Grief was a big part of it.”
Original Wakanda Forever had big story elements that are still in the movie that we’ll about to see in theaters. Namor (Tenoch Huerta) “was always the antagonist,” Coogler said.
“There were other characters, for sure, that we considered including,” Coogler says. “Namor was always there.”
Coolger said that it was also important to work on Wakanda Forever after Boseman’s death was all about moving forward while also memorializing the actor.
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