IN 2018, THE MCU AND CHADWICK BOSEMAN CHANGED THE WORLD. AND THEN THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENED. NOW, EMPIRE SPEAKS TO DIRECTOR RYAN COOGLER AND HIS CAST ABOUT BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER — THE SUPERHERO SEQUEL THAT REQUIRED SUPERHUMAN RESILIENCE

WORDS AMON WARMANN

Director Ryan Coogler on set.

Letitia Wright as Shuri; Winston Duke as M’Baku.

“‘HOW DO YOU CARRY ON IN THE FACE OF SEEMINGLY INSURMOUNTABLE ODDS?’”

Each time he begins writing a movie, Ryan Coogler poses a personal question he wants to find the answer to. For Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, he tells Empire, it was that one. Yet he had no idea how personal it would turn out to be. Or how insurmountable the odds would get.

“Unfortunately, that question became more and more relevant. Both for humanity as a whole,” he says, referring to the pandemic that came out of nowhere, “but also for the people in our production who were coming back for this one. It became super-relevant when we lost our bro.”

Unbeknownst to anyone in Hollywood, Chadwick Boseman had been defying the odds for years. Though he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, he spent his remaining time making physically demanding movies, gifting us a bevy of memorable performances. It was a superhuman feat.

By the end of Boseman’s debut as the Wakandan King (then a prince) in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, he was already a fan-favourite. But 2018’s Black Panther was a cultural moment for the ages, with T’Challa becoming the first superhero that Black people worldwide claimed as their own. “Audiences showed up in a way that you never see at movies, dressed as kings and queens,” says Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Mother Ramonda in both films. “From a 93-year-old woman who loved it and greeted me to a three-year-old, there was such enthusiasm over that movie. It was like water in a desert.”

T’Challa’s cool, calm and dignified qualities were all things that Boseman seemed to innately possess, as if he was intertwined with his superhero persona. “Oftentimes, people struggle to put true greatness into context,” says Coogler. “Chad was a great artist, but also a great man. It’s rare that those things match up.” Boseman’s passing in August 2020 was felt not just across the industry, but across the world. The resulting sequel would — had to — honour him.

Before filming began, before they could move forward in earnest, Coogler and many of Wakanda Forever’s cast made a pilgrimage to Boseman’s final resting place. They needed to collectively pay tribute. That Boseman’s brother was already there when they arrived at his grave in South Carolina — unaware that he wouldn’t be the only visitor that day — was a stroke of serendipity that almost felt, says Dominique Thorne, who plays Riri Williams/ Ironheart in the sequel, like it was orchestrated by the late actor himself.