The stars of 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' say they made their Marvel sequel to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman.
ew.com
Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther costars want Wakanda Forever to honor 'our brother, our leader, and our king'
Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, and more joined EW after taking over Comic-Con's Hall H.
By
Devan CogganJuly 25, 2022 at 06:29 PM EDT
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022 movie)
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When
Danai Gurira,
Lupita Nyong'o,
Winston Duke, and
Letitia Wright set out to make
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, they had one goal in mind: honoring their late costar
Chadwick Boseman.
The stars of
Wakanda Forever took over Hall H at
San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday,
debuting the first trailer for their highly anticipated Marvel sequel. Just after they stepped off stage, the cast stopped by EW's Comic-Con studio, where they opened up about why it was so important to them to get the film right. More than anything, they said, they hope
Wakanda Forever will pay tribute to Boseman, who
died in August 2020 at age 43 after privately battling colon cancer.
"The most important thing, of course, was honoring our brother, our leader, and our king," Gurira told 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."
The cast of 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' at San Diego Comic-Con
| CREDIT: GIZELLE HERNANDEZ FOR EW
The cast also spoke about wanting
Wakanda Forever to live up to the legacy of the first film, which shattered box office records and
became the first Marvel film to land an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. As Gurira explained, their goal was to expand upon the themes of the original
Black Panther, exploring new corners of Wakanda and deepening character arcs.
"It's also important to let go of any expectation that this movie will be
Black Panther 1," Duke added. "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."
In addition to returning cast members like Gurira, Nyong'o, Duke, Wright, and Florence Kasumba,
Wakanda Forever features some new faces. Tenoch Huerta stars as the legendary ruler Namor, with Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli joining the cast as Namora and Attuma. The film will also mark the debut of
Michaela Coel as Aneka and
Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a brilliant teenage tech inventor who'll soon star in her own Disney+ series,
Ironheart.
"It was very surreal for me to jump on this train," Livinalli said. "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 cast also praised writer-director
Ryan Coogler, highlighting his "integrity" throughout the filmmaking process and how he's shepherded Wakanda's story.
"There's not many directors like Ryan out there," Wright said. "The soul and the heart of the film starts 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 will hit theaters Nov. 11. Watch the full interview with the cast above.
