‘Black Panther’ sequel starts production, works “in a way that would make Chad proud"

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has started production in Atlanta, set to premiere next year. 

Feige confirmed the news to Variety, adding that the original cast will return for the sequel.

In honor of the legacy left by Chadwick Boseman in his portrayal of the lead character T’Challa, Disney said in 2020 that Marvel it will not recast the character. 

“It’s clearly very emotional without Chad,” Feige said during the Global Fan Event for Black Widow in Los Angeles as quoted by Variety.

“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,” he added.

Little is known about the sequel but Disney said that film will explore the fictional nation of Wakanda and the varied characters introduced in the first movie. 

Directed and written by Ryan Coogler, the sequel for the celebrated movie is slated for a July 8, 2022 release. 

Lupita Nyong’o told Yahoo! Entertainment last April that the death of her friend Boseman is “still extremely raw” for her. “I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to step on set and not have him there.”

Boseman died at 43 in 2020 after his four-year battle with colon cancer.

“But at the same time we have a leader in Ryan, who feels very much like we do, who feels the loss in a very, very real way as well. And his idea, the way which he has reshaped the second movie is so respectful of the loss we’ve all experienced as a cast and as a world. So it feels spiritually and emotionally correct to do this,” she added.

Black Panther is a celebrated movie for its representation of the African community in the mainstream media, which has underlying themes of social justice. It became the highest-grossing non-Avenger film of Marvel at nearly $1.35 billion worldwide.

(Images from Marvel Entertainment’s website and Black Panther’s Instagram account)