Kevin Feige Explains Why T’Challa Wasn’t Recast for ‘Black Panther 2’

When actor Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020, he left behind an enormously impressive body of work, including the superhero movie Black Panther, the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to center Black characters and feature an almost entirely Black cast. (It was also the first MCU film to win an Oscar, as well as be nominated for Best Picture.) Following Boseman's death from colon cancer, a difficult decision had to be made: recast his beloved character T'Challa, or write the leading man out of the next movie?

The trailer for director Ryan Coogler's upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which was shot after Boseman's passing, confirms that T'Challa will not appear, and it looks like much of the film will focus on the impact that his death has on his loved ones, including Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o).

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, explained the reasoning behind that creative decision in a recent interview with Empire magazine, stating that Wakanda Forever will be a tribute to Boseman.

"It just felt like it was much too soon to recast,” he said. "Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there's a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan poured that into the story."

"The conversations were entirely about, yes, 'What do we do next?'" He added. "And how could the legacy of Chadwick — and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas — continue? That’s what it was all about."

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