Source: Jesse Grant / Getty
Despite some fans being against the idea of it, we’re heading back to Wakanda because filming for Marvel Studios’ highly-anticipated Black Panther sequel titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has begun filming in Atlanta.
Variety exclusively reports that production for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the follow-up to the Oscar-winning billion-dollar film Black Panther officially began at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige told the publication.
Black Panther director and writer Ryan Coogler will helm the sequel. Feige says the original cast from the first film will be returning, but we already know it will not feature the late actor, Chad Boseman returning in the role of the titular character. Boseman tragically passed away in August 2020 after a four-year battle with colon cancer that he kept hidden. Fans have been torn on whether the franchise should move on without Boseman. Speaking before the Black Widow Global Fan Event in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, Feige touched on Boseman’s absence from the film, assuring fans of the movie will make Boseman proud.
“It’s clearly very emotional without Chad,” Feige admitted. “But everyone is also very excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”
Ryan Coogler admitted as much during an interview on Jemele Hill’s Unbothered podcast calling filming without the actor and his close friend“the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.”
“I’m still currently going through it,” he told Hill. “One thing that I’ve learned in my short or long time on this Earth is that it’s very difficult to have perspective on something while you’re going through it.”
While Feige has admitted the first film’s original cast is returning, he didn’t share which actors specifically. But it would be safe to assume that Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, and Angela Bassett would be back to reprise their roles. As far as the plot, that also remains a mystery. Still, rumors indicate that the lost underwater city of Atlantis will finally make its MCU debut with actor Tenoch Huerta reportedly playing Namor the Sub-Mariner, King of Atlantis.
Following its February 2018 release, Black Panther instantly became a cultural phenomenon earning $1.34 billion worldwide, making it Marvel’s highest-grossing non-Avengers film of all time. It also deaded the lazy argument that films with predominantly Black casts could not be profitable and that superhero films could not be taken seriously. Black Panther earned seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture, becoming the first superhero film to do so. It took home three Oscars for Oscars for its score, costume design, and production design.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is slated for a July 8, 2022, theatrical release and is part of Marvel/Disney’s slate of 26 titles coming to theaters and Disney Plus. There is also a TV series coming to Disney’s streaming service that will take place in the world of Wakanda that is a direct product of the multi-year overall television deal Coogler and his Proximity Media inked with The Walt Disney Company back in February.
We’re looking forward to learning more about this film.
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Photo: Jesse Grant / Getty
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