Ryan Coogler explains why he was never able to redesign Black Panther

With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Marvel Entertainment hits theaters on November 11th and has released the first in a series of behind-the-scenes in-depth insights into the making of the film. The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcasthosted by essayist and veteran Black Panther Comics writer Ta-Nehisi Coates opens with an emotional punch: a personal reminiscence of what the first Black Panther film meant for Coates and an initial conversation with director Ryan Coogler, who was deep in the editing process Wakanda forever when this episode was recorded.

Coogler will return in future episodes due out in January: this one is mainly about the painful process of a Black Panther Sequel without intended star Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.

The emotional difficulties of making the film without Boseman were discussed at length beforehand Wakanda forever, but the podcast goes further, with a particularly crude explanation from Coogler. When talking to Coates, who was also a friend of Boseman’s at Howard University, he audibly bursts into tears. Coogler explains that he believes a director’s primary job is to convince other people to believe in their ideas and their truth – and in that respect, Boseman was even more of a steward of this character and this world than he originally appeared.

In particular, he talks about Boseman creating the T’Challa character Captain America: Civil Waralmost two years earlier Black Panther‘s release, and how that involved “difficult conversations” with the Marvel breams about how civil war would shape T’Challa’s homeland of Wakanda. Coogler doesn’t elaborate on the specific backlash Boseman received from Marvel, but he credits the actor’s vision as a key reason the character came to life — both creatively, as the film was envisioned, as well as on a practical level, how the two men worked together, and Coogler worried about the pressure to make the film great.

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios

Ultimately, according to Coogler, this was why a rewrite of T’Challa was not considered a viable option, even though he had already written a screenplay with a narrow focus on the character and completed it just weeks before Boseman’s death. The director needed to be able to sell his truth to his staff, and the truth they faced, while sad, was unavoidable: “Heroes, great men… die.” Essentially, Boseman felt that the journey of Black Panther and Wakanda as a whole was his mission, so Coogler felt compelled to continue it for him.

It’s a compelling conversation, in large part because Coogler can be heard renegotiating the roles of actors and directors as he moves through the reimagining process Wakanda forever as a tribute and way forward. He seems to be thinking Black Panther Boseman’s film is just like his – and perhaps the same is true without Boseman for the sequel.

The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast is available on Spotify and other podcast platforms. According to Marvel, “Subsequent episodes will be available weekly in January 2023 to celebrate the five year anniversary of the first Black Panther film.”