What If...?: Star-Lord T'Challa Spinoff Series Was Planned Says Director

One of the highlights of the first season of What If...? was the second episode titled "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" in which the Ravagers abducted T'Challa, instead of Peter Quill, and in turn became the Star-Lord of that universe. But as it turns out, there were plans to spin the character into his own series.

During an interview with Variety discussing the season finale of the series, director Bryan Andrews revealed that they were planning a Star-Lord T'Challa spinoff series, but it was scrapped due to the passing of Chadwick Boseman. He said, "I don't know if he knew this, but there was planning to have Star-Lord T'Challa spin off into his own show with that universe and crew. We were all very excited. We know he would have loved it, too. And then, you know, he passed, and so all that's in limbo. So, who knows? Maybe one day."

A spinoff series surrounding Star-Lord T'Challa would have been a wonderful idea. But of course, it would be hard to make it happen now given the passing of Boseman as T'Challa has always been associated with him. The episode was received well when it aired so there's no doubt that fans would have also loved the idea if it came into fruition. Besides Star-Lord T'Challa, we could have seen more of the universe's reformed Thanos.

Andrews also confirmed in the interview that Boseman wasn't able to record any lines for the second season before his passing, which puts the possibility of T'Challa coming back to rest.

Regarding their experience working with the actor, the director shared, "Chadwick had recorded his Star-Lord T'Challa stuff early. But we had those later episodes that he appeared in sporadically, and it was a long stretch before we got him [again]. And it was not long after the final recording that he passed. I think it was maybe just a few months or a month. None of us knew, obviously. But we got him in time to have everything [for Season 1]."

Also Read:The Ending of Marvel's What If..? Season 1 Episode 9 Explained

Boseman's voice role in the series was his last ever acting appearance. It is sad that we won't ever see him as T'Challa again, but his legacy will certainly live on and he has done plenty of work that we can celebrate. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is expected to address the character's fate in the main MCU timeline.

The first season of What If...? is currently streaming on Disney+.