Denzel Washington revealed Ryan Coogler had cast him in Black Panther 3 late last year, with a recent rumour potentially shedding some light on who the Oscar-winner will play.
Talking to Screen Rant about Captain America: Brave New World, Marvel Studios executive Nate Moore shared an update on where things stand with Washington's highly anticipated MCU debut.
While it sounds like Coogler and Washington have talked, it's clearly still early days for the threequel at Marvel Studios if Moore's comments are any indication.
"If that manifests, which we're gonna try, I think it will probably be somebody from canon," he said of who the legendary actor could play. "Who that is, is early days. We honestly haven't had really substantive creative conversations with Ryan, mostly because he's finishing his film Sinners, which is gonna come out this year and is gonna be great."
"So again it's too early to say, but obviously if an actor of the caliber of Denzel Washington wants in, we're gonna figure out a way to make that happen," Moore concluded.
He may not have signed on the dotted line, but it was during Gladiator II's press tour when Washington confirmed he'll star in Black Panther 3. The movie hadn't been officially announced at the time, though that didn't stop him from spilling the beans!
"For me, it's about the filmmaker, especially at this point in my career," the screen icon said. "I'm only interested in working with the best. I don't know how many more films I'm going to make; probably not that many. I want to do things I haven't done...Ryan Coogler's writing a part for me in the next Black Panther."
Later, Washington admitted that he'd spoken out of turn and quickly made things right with Coogler. "Ryan’s a genius. I called him and apologized for talking about the movie, and right there sitting with him was his beautiful wife. He’s still Ryan, humble and full of ideas. Whatever he writes, I’ll read."
Rumours continue to swirl about plans to recast T'Challa, with the prevailing theory being that Toussaint will pick up where his father left off (if Avengers: Secret Wars really does reboot the MCU, that should be easy enough).
Washington had a history with the late Chadwick Boseman; when Phylicia Rashad was mentoring him while teaching at Howard University, Boseman was accepted into the British American Drama Academy's Midsummer program but couldn't afford to take part. She made a call to Washington and he agreed to foot the bill.
Black Panther 3 doesn't have a confirmed release date but is expected to be released post-Secret Wars.