Ryan Coogler admits he felt "uncomfortable" making Black Panther: Wakanda Forever without Chadwick Boseman.
The first Black Panther movie was a huge commercial and critical success and became the first 'superhero' film to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
Boseman played King T'Challa in Black Panther as well as other projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Tragically, the actor passed away after losing his battle with cancer, which left any sequel in doubt.
Wakanda Forever was eventually confirmed, though Marvel decided not to recast Black Panther out of respect for Boseman.
The movie focused on how the people of Wakanda dealt with the loss of King T'Challa, as Boseman's death was written into the storyline.
It received praise for how Boseman's absence was dealt with, but Coogler still didn't feel content without his star man.
“I found myself in a position that I wasn’t comfortable," he said while delivering Bafta’s David Lean Lecture in London.
“I was a director without a lead actor, tasked to make a film about a hero when we’d just lost ours.
“So the question was, how do you move on when your very existence, your very identity, was defined by another person, and you lose them?
“That question motivated us to complete the film.”
On a budget of $250 million, it has earned $769m at the box office so far in less than a month.
Related Movies
Black Panther
Action / Scifi
2018 • 134 minutes
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Action / Adventure
2022 • 161 minutes
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