2020 has been a garbage year. Can we all agree with that? No matter what your politics, religion, preference in life, everyone has been having a bad year. One of the reminders of how garbage this year has been the fact that we lost Chadwick Boseman. The highly regarded actor has had a series of damn good roles and one of them was as T’Challa aka Black Panther. At this year’s Disney Investor Day event it was announced that his character will not be recast in Black Panther 2.
2018’s Black Panther was a huge event that year. People came out in droves to see the Marvel character star in his first film and the future seemed bright as the movie was a box office hit. There has been plenty of rumors going around on what’s to come in the confirmed sequel and we all knew for certain that it would star Boseman. Then life uppercuts everyone – and we lose the actor to cancer.
After the mourning, the next question was, “Who will take up the mantle?” Kevin Feige spoke at the Marvel presentation to update us. The head of Marvel Studios revealed that the titular role will not be recast as a sign of respect for the passed actor. Many were speculating on who could fit the shoes of the beloved character—and boy are those shoes big. Since it looks like that will no longer be the issue, now we have to guess what’s to come of the franchise.
Disney also made a statement via the official Twitter account:
“Black Panther 2, opening July 8, 2022, is being written & directed by Ryan Coogler. Honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy & portrayal of T’Challa, @MarvelStudios will not recast the character but will explore the world of Wakanda & the rich characters introduced in the first film.”
Kevin Feige also commented that Ryan Coogler is hard at work to further explore the world of Black Panther. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s to come of the MCU franchise.