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Every Marvel Cinematic Universe project comes attached with a ton of hype and even weightier expectations, but that might be more true for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever than any of the comic book franchise’s previous projects, which faces the most difficult balancing act the superhero saga has attempted to pull off.
Not only is it the sequel to one of the highest-grossing movies ever made, that nabbed an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and became a genuine cultural phenomenon in the process, but Wakanda Forever also has to address and deal with the loss of leading man Chadwick Boseman from both a personal and in-canon perspective; with Letitia Wright’s Shuri widely expected to assume the mantle.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, returning star Angela Bassett was asked if reading the script had settled her nerves about continuing the Black Panther mythos without Boseman, and her answer was resoundingly positive.
“Yes. You know, we still have Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, who wrote Black Panther 1, so the two of them, these men, these brothers, they’re going to bring it. They love Black Panther , they love what they started. As they say, ‘Finish the way you started’. They started great and they’re going to do this one well as well.”
Bassett had previously admitted that the screenplay had been through at least five drafts, which isn’t a shock when co-writers Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole need to expand their corner of the MCU, have a new character assume the title role and pay tribute to Boseman’s legacy all at once. The first installment proved that the duo are more than capable of setting a very high bar for themselves, one that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be hoping to leap over with ease.