Chadwick Boseman's star was already on the rise in Hollywood before his standout performances in movies like Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther. However, the latter set the stage for him to become one of the world's biggest stars, and major award success was almost certainly in his future.
Tragically, Boseman's life was cut short after he lost a hard-fought battle with cancer in 2020. The actor's passing sent shockwaves across the world and left Marvel Studios without a T'Challa for its planned Black Panther sequel.
The decision was made not to recast the role; instead, the character died off-screen, and Shuri inherited the Black Panther mantle in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She will continue playing the hero in Avengers: Doomsday, but is expected to soon pass the baton to T'Challa's son, Toussaint/T'Challa II.
Talking to Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, filmmaker Ryan Coogler reflected on his relationship with Boseman, revealing that the actor was too unwell to read his Black Panther 2 script.
"I finished it, and I hit him up to read it. He was too sick to read it, bro. That was kind of how the timing was. He was at a place where it wasn't gonna happen. Our relationship was really interesting. He meant a lot to me. I found out after his passing from his family and from his friends how much I meant to him. I wondered if he knew just how much he meant to me. He protected me from a lot, bro. Our relationship was one of a lot of protection, you know?"
"I was convinced on the toughest days on Panther that I was going to get fired. I would say it all the time. If the actors [were] taking their time to get out of makeup, I'm like, 'Yo, you got to hurry up, or they're going to fire me.' One day, he took me to the side and was like, 'Yo, stop saying that.' I was like, 'Man, I really feel that way.' He was like, "Look at me, bro. I would never let that happen to you. I would not let that happen to you.' Looking back, he was always protecting me."
"One of the strongest people was having his strength taken from him by this disease. It damaged me, bro. Probably irreparably, to be honest with you. But I love that script. I put so much into that version of the movie. I felt like I had gotten to know Chadwick as a performer. I threw a lot at Chad in the first Panther, but I realised I was just scratching the surface. Now I know what he can do. I'm going to push him to the limit."
Horowitz asked Coogler if there were any scenes, in particular, that he'd been excited to shoot in the original version of the sequel. With that, he went on to reveal the movie's scrapped plot and what he had planned for T'Challa and his son as they attempted to fend off an invading Namor.
"It was like a 180-page draft chock-full of them. The big thing about the script was this thing called the 'Ritual of Eight,' where when a prince is eight years old, he has to go spend eight days in the bush with his father and amongst them, and amongst those eight days, they have to go into the bush without any tools. The prince has to listen to everything that's asked of him by his father. But the rule is that for those eight days, the prince can ask the father any question, and the father has to answer."
"During the course of those eight days, Namor launches an attack. He had to deal withsomebody who was like insanely dangerous, but because of this ritual, his son had to be like joined at his hip the whole time. He was engaging in negotiations, fights, and his son had to be right there, or he'd have to violate this ritual, which had never been broken. That was what the movie was. [With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever], I got a chance to make a movie about women. I love that movie so much."
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was still a great movie—it received positive reviews and grossed over $859 million worldwide—but we clearly missed out on something special here.
Still, Boseman's indelible impact continues to be felt, and with Marvel Studios now set to shift the spotlight back to T'Challa (whether it's a Variant or an adult Toussaint), the Black Panther will remain a focal point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward.