The Stars of Black Panther Pay Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, “He Will Forever Remain Our Number One”

When the movie Black Panther first came out in 2018, it received overall good reviews from both the audience and the critics, with many pointing out the great skills of the main actor Chadwick Boseman. Unfortunately, he passed away just 2 years later, after a private battle with cancer. So the cast and the crew have a goal of making the new Black Panther movie worthy enough to live up to his legacy.

We at Bright Side will never forget what an incredible person Chadwick Boseman was. We were deeply touched to hear that after the announcement of the new Black Panther movie, the cast talked a lot about him.

Chadwick Boseman originally got the role of T’Challa without auditioning.

Talks of making a movie dedicated to the superhero Black Panther have been going on since 1992, but there was not any real progress until 2014. That year, Chadwick Boseman got cast as T’Challa without an audition, and this news was announced less than a month after the deal between him and Marvel became official. The actor said that, by that time, he hadn’t even had a chance to try on the superhero suit.

Boseman said that there was no audition, and instead, he just sat down with Marvel, and everyone exchanged their opinions on what they wanted to do, and that’s how he got the role. Before that, the actor appeared in the movies 42 and Get On Up.

The entire cast of Black Panther was revealed at Comic Con 2016.

A year before the production for the movie began, the cast of Black Panther had a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con. However, by that time, Chadwick himself had already acted as T’Challa by making an appearance in another Marvel movie Captain Marvel: Civil War, so he was familiar to the fans.

In the interview after the panel, Boseman said that he had known all his cast members for years, because they are often pitted against each other in order to get a role in a movie. But, in his words, the beautiful thing about Black Panther was that they were not in the competition since there was no quota on Black actors, and he was happy that he finally got to work with them.

When Black Panther finally came out, it was a commercial success.

Some people may have doubted the marketability of Black Panther, but it was a huge success. The year it came out, it became the top-grossing superhero movie of all time, it was the first Marvel movie to win an Oscar and the first superhero movie ever to be nominated for Best Picture, the most prestigious Oscar award.

In 2019, Marvel announced that the sequel to the movie, Black Panther 2, would come out in 2022.

Chadwick Boseman sadly passed away in 2020.

The news of his death came as a shock to millions of fans. The actor passed away from a private battle with cancer. In the statement made by his team, it was revealed that he filmed a lot of his movies in between “countless surgeries and chemotherapy.”

The cast of the movie, as well as many of his colleagues, posted sweet tributes to him on social media.

Danai Gurira, who played the role of Okoye, wrote: “He was zen and sweet and funny (with the very best laugh), attentive, and truly, truly, good. I can’t even wrap my mind around this loss. A loss resonating in my own heart as well as around the globe. (...) I am so thankful to have taken the Black Panther journey with him. To have known him, spent time in his light and leadership, and to call him forever a friend.”

Lupita Nyong’o, who played T’Challa’s romantic interest Nakia, wrote a lengthy statement a few days after Chadwick Boseman’s death. It reads: “He set the bar high by working with a generosity of spirit, creating an ego-free environment by sheer example, and he always had a warm gaze and a strong embrace to share. (...) Chadwick’s hands were strong enough to carry the weight of the film and free enough to clasp mine when I needed it.”

The production of Black Panther 2 carried on, and recently the cast held another Comic-Con panel.

Marvel confirmed that Black Panther 2, which has the official title of Wakanda Forever, will be released on November 11th, 2022. In honor of this, the cast and the crew of the movie had another Comic-Con panel where they answered questions regarding the upcoming movie and paid a lot of tributes to Chadwick Boseman. The movie director Ryan Coogler said: “The last time we were all together on that stage, Chad was with us, and it was beautiful.”

The goal for Wakanda Forever is to “not only bring the same joy as the first film, but it also is a tribute to what he did, and what Chad brought not just to us, but to the world.” In the trailer for the movie, it is confirmed that Chadwick Boseman’s character T’Challa has passed away.

Lupita Nyong’o noted that making the second movie while grieving Boseman felt “very therapeutic” for her, since it was hard coming to terms with losing him and that everyone is still processing it in their own way. The actress also revealed that the call sheets for the movie didn’t have a number 1. “That was reserved for Chadwick. He was with us.”

Letitia Wright, who played T’Challa’s little sister, Shuri, said that the cast and the crew feel like a family. They feel that it is a gathering of people who care greatly and who want to “honor the legacy that we are trying to carry on of what Chadwick started.”

Winston Duke, who played M’Baku, also noted that real life and the movie correlate a lot, as everyone is mourning the loss of “one of our cohorts, one of our collaborators, and a really great friend.”

The cast and the crew hope that the audience likes the new movie as it expands the world of Wakanda and was handled with “love, care, and style.”

Are you excited for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?