Here’s What ‘Wakanda Forever’ Originally Looked Like Before Chadwick Boseman’s Tragic Passing”
As most fans know, Black Panther is one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, and both films about the Wakandan superhero were massive successes. However, the second film notably omitted the original Black Panther, T’Challa, portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman.
After Boseman’s tragic death, Marvel chose not to recast the role. Instead, Black Panther 2 honored the actor by poignantly weaving real-life grief into the story.
The official reason was that Black Panther was such an iconic figure, and they wanted to respect Boseman’s legacy without replacing him.
While this worked within the narrative, the original storyline for Black Panther 2 was quite different. Director Ryan Coogler had to rework his initial script to reflect Boseman’s absence.
In a recent interview, Coogler shared what the original plot was, and surprisingly, aside from the major change, the core story remained largely intact.
As you know, the plot of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever unfolds after the death of King T’Challa, the Black Panther. Wakanda is in mourning, with Ramonda assuming the throne, aided by her daughter Shuri, the Dora Milaje, and M’Baku.
A year later, as global powers remain cautious of Wakanda’s control over vibranium, a new vibranium deposit is discovered on the ocean floor using an experimental detector.
This draws the attention of Namor, the amphibious ruler of Talocan, who threatens war against Wakanda. Ramonda, Shuri, and Okoye must rely on a few trusted allies to prevent a global conflict.
However, this wasn’t the original plot. The screenplay was initially written while Chadwick Boseman was alive. After his passing, the story had to be reworked. Despite this, Ryan Coogler revealed that the core theme remained intact, and adapting the narrative around Boseman’s absence felt natural to the story.
The tonal shift, I will say, was less of a shift than in [casting]. The tone was going to be similar. The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back.
Grief was a big part of it. (…) There were other characters, for sure, that we considered including. Namor was always there. (…) Who the protagonist was, the flaws of the protagonist, what the protagonist was dealing with in their journey, all of that stuff had to be different due to us losing him and the decisions that we made about moving forward.
Source: Inverse
As you can see, Coogler didn’t struggle much with adapting the screenplay. Aside from the significant absence of the main character, the script remained largely unchanged, which is quite intriguing. We’re also pleased that Namor was always intended to be the villain, though perhaps his execution could have been refined given that context.
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