Black Panther Director Ryan Coogler Reveals Plot for Sequel Before Chadwick Boseman's Death

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty; Marvel/Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock Ryan Coogler; Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa

Ryan Coogler is explaining what the focus of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was originally going to be prior to the death of star Chadwick Boseman.

Coogler, 36, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter for a recent profile of Boseman's franchise costar Lupita Nyong'o, revealing that the script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole "before Chadwick passed was very much rooted in [Boseman's character King T'Challa]'s perspective."

"It was a massive movie but also simultaneously a character study that delved deeply into his psyche and situation," added the filmmaker, who also helmed 2018's Black Panther.

Nyong'o, 39, told THR that in the final script, Coogler instead "wrote something that so honored the truth of what every one of us was feeling, those of us who knew Chadwick."

"He created something that could honor that and carry the story forward. By the end, I was weeping," she shared.

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Mike Marsland/WireImage Chadwick Boseman and Ryan Coogler in February 2018

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Earlier this month, Coogler told Entertainment Weekly that after Boseman died of colon cancer in at the age of 43 in August 2020, he didn't know if he could continue making movies.

"I was at a point when I was like, 'I'm walking away from this business.' I didn't know if I could make another movie period, [let alone] another Black Panther movie, because it hurt a lot. I was like, 'Man, how could I open myself up to feeling like this again?' " he explained.

In the days after Boseman's death, Coogler was "poring over a lot of our conversations that we had, towards what I realized was the end of his life. I decided that it made more sense to keep going."

He added, "There's that idea of grief and intense emotion feeling like it comes in waves. Sometimes a wave can take you away where you lose control of it. You think you're in control, but the water can always remind you that you're not."

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Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige first announced that Boseman's titular role would not be recast during Disney's Investor Day back in December 2020. The previous month, executive producer Victoria Alonso said Boseman's character would not be rendered digitally either.

In her profile for THR, Nyong'o said she supports the decision not to re-cast Boseman's King T'Challa but clarified, "That is not the death of the Black Panther, that's the whole point."

"It's laying to rest [T'Challa] and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies," the Oscar winner continued, admitting that while she realizes "there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast," she doesn't "have the patience."

"I don't have the presence of mind, or I don't have the objectivity to argue with that," Nyong'o added. "I don't. I'm very biased."

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters Nov. 11.