“Healing From The Loss Of Chadwick Boseman”: Black Panther 2 As Seen By Letitia Wright And The Marvel Film Crew

AlloCiné was able to speak with the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” team during a press conference. The actors tell us about the evolution of their character.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is released this Wednesday, November 9 in our dark rooms. On this occasion AlloCine was able to speak with the film’s team made up of director Ryan Coogler, producers Nate Moore and Kevin Feige and actors Letitia Wright (Shuri), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), Danai Gurira (Okoye) and Tenoch Huerta ( Namor).

The latter told us about the evolution of their character, the lack left by Chadwick Boseman and the impact of the actor’s death in August 2020 on the set.

In this second installment, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri, M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers following the death of King T’Challa.

As Wakandans struggle to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must come together with the help of Nakia and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

Meeting with the film crew.

AlloCiné: Ryan, can you tell us about your reunion with the cast of the film?

Ryan Coogler (director) : What’s great when you work on a series of films from the same franchise is to find the same collaborators.

We spent magical moments together during the first opus. It’s been 4 years since the last film and it did me good to find this beautiful cinematographic family.

It’s amazing how everyone has “grown” and evolved with this pandemic and the passage of time.

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Wakanda Forever

Besides, we started filming in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic. Everyone had suffered from loneliness during the first year of confinement… it did us a lot of good to find ourselves again.

It’s so important to be able to hug someone. This feeling of belonging to a family, to a community, again, was an important moment.

I am grateful to have been able to experience this magical moment of cinematographic creation again.

A film with new themes

It was also magical to have Rihanna on the film’s soundtrack as well as the fabulous composer Ludwig Göransson. They made a title in tribute to Chad.

It’s also a film with new themes such as motherhood with all these fantastic actresses.

AlloCiné: Tell us about this delicate moment when it was necessary to overcome the disappearance of Chadwick Boseman in order to set up Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

Kevin Feige (producer): Obviously we were all shaken by the disappearance of Chadwick Boseman. So what could we do with this terrible news? What should we do? Did we even have to do another Black Panther?

“The world we created had to have a sequel”

Very quickly we realized the obvious: the world we had created and all these beautiful characters had to have a sequel to their adventures.

Ryan had been working on the sequel that included Chad for a year and then all of a sudden it all came to a halt.

He then had to include his disappearance in a new version which became the film that you will discover on the screens.

The idea was both to honor his memory but also to celebrate the spirit of Wakanda which is very much alive to him.


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Black Panther

AlloCiné: Tell us about what you had to go through to find the right tone.

Nate Moore (producer) : It’s always the same story when you make a film, you have to be honest and truthful. It was necessary to show what everyone felt after the disappearance of Black Panther.

This mixture of pain, but also of praise… all these feelings so human and conflicting that one can feel in such moments.

It was interesting to explore these emotions which can differ from one character to another.

Ryan really managed to express all of his emotions in this film and through all of our protagonists. I think that in the end, it is a film of great spiritual force.

AlloCiné: Tenoch, can you tell us about the character of Namor and your training to play him?

Tenoch Huerta : I am delighted with the origins given to Namor. I’m proud, as a Mexican, that he has Mayan roots, indigenous roots.

The timing is perfect in these times of diversity and inclusion.


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Namor (Tenoch Huerta)

On a physical level, it was quite a challenge because I didn’t really know how to swim before this film. Now I know how to hold my breath underwater for more than 5 minutes!

AlloCiné: Letitia, tell us about the emotions that make your character, Shuri, vibrate in Wakanda Forever.

Letitia Wright : I had a delicate conversation with Ryan in order to progress my character who is in conflict with herself, and feels anger and pain.

In the first film, Shuri is protected, she is a princess surrounded by love. She is so proud that her big brother is taking over the legacy left by their father.

“I hope the public will be able to heal the wound caused by the loss of Chadwick”

Here we find her with a totally broken heart. It was fascinating and tricky to create a new direction for my character given what she has to go through. I believe that we will really feel his inner pain.

The tone is true, fair and full of sensitivity. I hope that the public will understand her and, like her, will manage to heal this wound caused by the loss of Chadwick.


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Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia)

AlloCiné: Lupita, can you tell us about your character Nakia in this film?

Lupita Nyong’o: At first I was a little jealous of the approach of the character of Shuri who is rather chaotic. But then I understood that Nakia is not in the same state of mind.

Especially since, as Ryan explained to me in the first film, Nakia represents a kind of oasis for T’Challa. In this second film, it becomes Shuri’s oasis.

On some level, playing a character who is someone so at peace with herself has had a therapeutic effect on me and how I feel about Chadwick’s disappearance. I struggled to look beyond the frustration and sadness caused by this loss. I learned a lot from my character and from this great wisdom that inhabits it.

AlloCiné: Danai, can you tell us about your character who is more vulnerable in this film?

Danai Gurira : It’s a unique opportunity to be able to explore such different feelings, depending on who you play.

I think audiences will be surprised by Okoye’s emotional journey during this epic film. She will surprise you with her great vulnerability. It’s fantastic to discover the kaleidoscope of all these human emotions

“Healing From The Loss Of Chadwick Boseman”: Black Panther 2 As Seen By Letitia Wright And The Marvel Film Crew