There is no doubt that despite Black Panther: Wakanda Forever immense success of topping $800 million in worldwide box office, filmmaker Ryan Coogler and the crew had been reluctant to produce the film in the first place. Given the absence of the Black Panther / T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman, after his tragic passing in August 2020, they had to find a loophole at some point and make a decision on whether they want to proceed without the titular actor and character. Disney, on the other hand, had been firm at the very beginning.
Recently speaking with Deadline, Nate Moore, VP of Production & Development at Marvel Studios, opened up on how Disney never wanted Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to happen in the first place. As Coogler previously said, everybody found themselves being in denial, and unable to process the news of Boseman’s sudden passing.
“There’s like… Pardon my French, but “Holy shit, what happened?”” Moore said, “And at first… I remember, literally, I was on the treadmill, and I got the call, and I was like, “Wait, what happened?” And then we get on a phone call and your mind is processing it as an idea and not as an emotional experience.”
Initially, only a handful of people were informed about Chadwick dealing with his cancer diagnosis in secret. Eventually, they had to make an executive decision on whether or not they should continue to make the movie, the thought of recasting T’Challa came to mind, that they could never think of doing such.
Moore then opened up about the internal conversations on what to do for the sake of the franchise’s future, to which Disney responded that they want Marvel Studios to take the lead in the decision-making.
“Disney never said, “You have to make the movie, so figure it out,” Moore explained, “They said, “Well, if you don’t have to… don’t make the movie. If you guys don’t want to make the movie, please don’t make the movie on our account.”
While it is truly saddening to see how much Coogler, Disney, and Marvel Studios struggled to create the Black Panther sequel, in the end, Wakanda Forever paid a beautiful tribute to T’Challa and Boseman, along with the passing of torch to Letitia Wright’s Shuri as the new Black Panther for the MCU to move forward.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives on Disney+ on February 1.
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