Production for the sequel Black Panther 2 has yet to get underway, but fans are still wondering how everything will come together after the tragic death of lead actor Chadwick Boseman last year. During an interview with Yahoo! Movies, Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winning-actress Lupita Nyong’o said Boseman’s death is “still extremely raw” for her and that the upcoming film would include “honoring” what he started.
“People will ask me, ‘Are you excited to go back?’” Nyong’o says. “Excitement isn’t the word. I feel like I’m in a very pensive and meditative state when it comes to Black Panther 2. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to step on set and not have him there.”
Boseman died on August 28 from colon cancer at the age of 43. Last December, Marvel Studios announced that his character T’Challa would not be recast for the 2022 sequel. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Nyong’o plays Nakia, T’Challa’s lover and an undercover spy for Wakanda.
Nyong’o feels that everyone who was involved in the making of the 2018 film will come in with a similar sensitivity to the work, including director Ryan Coogler who is returning to helm the sequel.
“The way which [Coogler] has reshaped the second movie is so respectful of the loss we’ve all experienced as a cast and as a world,” Nyong’o says. “So, it feels spiritually and emotionally correct to do this. And hopefully, what I do look forward to, is getting back together and honoring what he started with us and holding his light through it. Because he left us a lot of light that we’re still going to be bathing in. I know that for sure.”