Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler almost retired from filmmaking after Chadwick Boseman died in 2020. The African-American filmmaker made his feature directorial debut in 2013 with the Sundance darling Fruitvale Station, starring Michael B. Jordan. Soon enough, Coogler was writing and directing major studio tentpoles and reuniting with Jordan on the Rocky spinoff Creed and the Marvel movie Black Panther. The latter starred Boseman as T'Challa, the King of Wakanda and the titular superhero.
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Two years ago, Boseman passed after a long and private battle with colon cancer. The upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, will deal directly with the weight of this massive loss, as, in the wake of King T'Challa's death, the new leaders of Wakanda must defend their nation from invading forces led by Namor, the ruler of an underwater kingdom called Talocan. The likeliest candidate to succeed T'Challa as the next Black Panther is his sister, Shuri, played by Letitia Wright.
During a recent interview with EW, Coogler reflects on the loss of Boseman and looks ahead toward the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The sequel's writer/director makes the surprising admission that Boseman's death was so impactful for him that he almost quit filmmaking altogether. Read what Coogler shares below:
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?" […] I 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.
How Black Panther 2 Will Honor Boseman's Legacy
Coogler was in the middle of writing the Black Panther 2 script when Boseman passed away in 2020. Because the actor kept his illness private, his death came as a massive shock even to those who worked with him closely, like Coogler, who not only lost his lead star, but a close friend and collaborator who helped shaped Black Panther and the subsequent sequel. The sudden loss had a tremendous impact on Coogler, and he almost walked away from the filmmaking business as a result.
Thankfully, Coogler didn't walk away, but plans for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever changed drastically after Boseman's death. Ultimately, Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole decided that what better way to honor the late actor's legacy than to explore the world of Wakanda and the characters who inhabit it. Much like audiences watching the film, the sequel will find Wakanda mourning the loss of their beloved leader, T'Challa. Hopefully, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever proves to be worthy tribute to Boseman's legacy when the sequel premieres in theaters on November 11.