The anticipated sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finally arrived in theaters on November 11, 2022, to critical acclaim. Due to the success of its 2018 predecessor, which crossed $1 billion at the global box office, the excitement for the sequel was understandably palpable. Now that the movie has been out in theaters for almost two months, the film’s stars can now speak freely about the film, the process of bringing the movie together, and other “bittersweet” moments.
Speaking with Empire Movie Podcast, Letitia Wright who plays Shuri and the new Black Panther in the sequel, discusses the original plans for her character to suit up. However, these plans sadly changed when Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 after a battle with cancer.
When asked about stepping onto set, putting on the suit, and taking over the mantle, Wright responded:
“It was bittersweet. Shuri was always gonna do it, but it was gonna be done in a different way where her brother was gonna be alongside her, really explore that, like the comic books, the ways in which T’Challa and Shuri would be Black Panther alongside each other and try to figure out how to defend their nation. But unfortunately, that’s not how it panned out… I knew the responsibility, I knew the weight of it, but it was just bittersweet, something I struggled with a lot. But [I’m] extremely proud of myself, had great support.”
As Wright points out, in the comics, Shuri would eventually go on to become Black Panther alongside T’Challa after coveting the mantle for long. Considering how much the comic book version of Shuri was altered for the cinematic universe, it would have been fascinating to see how this original comic storyline would have panned out in the film franchise, especially built on the original Wakanda Forever plotline that was in the works before Boseman’s death. The original story would have focused on T’Challa (Boseman) building a relationship with his son, Toussaint (Divine Love Konadu-Sun), after missing out on the first few years of his life due to Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) blip. Toussaint would then accompany his father, who has to save the world, presumably from Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía) who was still going to be villain in the Boseman-led sequel or from Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who was to have bigger role in the original sequel. T’Challa’s son eventually still gets introduced in Wakanda Forever, albeit in a much smaller role in the mid-credits scene.
Wright does not explicitly state that Shuri would have suited up in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so perhaps this is a story that would have taken place further down the line as T’Challa gets more involved in world-saving missions with the Avengers, leaving Wakanda without its protector. However, since we’re currently in ‘The Multiverse Saga’ of the MCU, perhaps Shuri and T’Challa suiting up together could have come as a result of multiversal shenanigans.
Sadly, due to Boseman’s untimely death, the original plan had to be scrapped, and we had Shuri defending Wakanda as the Black Panther sooner than expected. Shuri’s outing as the Black Panther has met critical acclaim with Collider’s Ross Bonaime stating “Wright takes the reins of this series superbly” in his review.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still showing in theaters and will be available to stream on Disney+ later this year.
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