Ryan Coogler has almost finished filming Black Panther after the death of Chadwick Boseman

 Ryan Coogler has almost finished filming Black Panther after the death of Chadwick Boseman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was made to honor Chadwick Boseman's legacy with director Ryan Coogler saying they never thought about recasting T'Challa, the real name of Boseman's Black Panther.

Ryan Coogler and Chadwick Boseman

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther starred the late Chadwick Boseman. 

Ryan Coogler, the writer and director behind the Black Panther films, says he almost quit the entertainment industry after the death of his lead star Chadwick Boseman. Boseman, who played the title role in the 2018 Marvel Studios blockbuster Black Panther, died in August 2020 after a secret battle with colon cancer. He was 43.

“I was at a point where I was like, 'I'm walking away from this business.' I didn't know if I could do another season, (let alone) another Black Panther movie, because it hurt so much. I was like, 'Man, how could I open myself up to feeling like this again?'" Coogler told Entertainment Weekly.

But it was his association with the late star and the significance of Black Panther as a character that prompted the director to make another attempt at filming.

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Coogler has often spoken about how Boseman, also a philanthropist, was a guide for the cast and crew while working on the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. “I thought about a lot of our conversations that we had and I realized that this was the end of his life. I decided it made more sense to continue," he added.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was made to honor Boseman's legacy, and the director said they never thought about recasting T'Challa, the real name of Boseman's Black Panther. “My job as a filmmaker is to make things that I have personal integrity with. If I don't believe in what I'm doing, I'm going to have trouble getting other people to do their best work. To do the best work, they have to believe in it.

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“At the end of the day, our decisions have to feel true to me. When the filmmakers do things that don't feel true to them, you can feel it. And I will argue that these projects have no chance of working," Coogler added.

Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Martin Freeman and Angela Bassett are set to reprise their roles for the second installment of the series.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to release on November 11th, also with new entrants Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel and Tenoch Huerta.