Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be arriving in theaters in just over a month's time, almost five years after the first instalment. During that time, the star of Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman unfortunately passed away after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
The actor's passing left the fate of his iconic Marvel character up in the air. That was at least until the debut of the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which confirmed that T'Challa went with Boseman. It's a tough spot to be put in for the production of the follow-up, to be sure, but they ultimately made a respectable decision.
Last month, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said his piece on the matter. Now, one of the stars of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Winston Duke has given his take on potentially recasting T'Challa in the wake of Boseman's passing. His sentiment essentially boils down to that Boseman and T'Challa were a package deal, as you can see below.
"I think for this iteration of Black Panther, it's very hard for me to really comment on something like that, because, I'm of the mind that this is Chadwick's role," Duke began (via Jemele Hill).
"Chadwick created this and 'Black Panther' wouldn't be the same without Chadwick Boseman, who stood for the things that he stood for. When you cast a person, you're also casting their experiences, you're casting their politics, you're casting their all of these thing. 'Black Panther' was heavily defined by the actor that did it, in my opinion."
However, the actor goes on to propose that the fantastical nature of the Marvel universe could open the door to T'Challa returning, played by a different actor, whilst not being a direct recast of Boseman's role.
"So, I feel, as-is, the decision that's been made to keep T'Challa, Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa is one that has a lot of nobility in it. But you also have to… there's a level of trust that I think we should all have for a comic book world. (laughs) For a comic book world that has multiple dimensions and parallel dimensions and multiple stories and possible futures and possible reimaginations in the past. Just, multiple universes that they're actually experimenting with. So I feel, my level of trust is that the medium can support a diversity of interpretations that can actually make us all happy."
As said, it's a tough spot without a clear right or wrong choice. That said, what do you think of Duke's take and how do you think T'Challa's fate should be handled?
The actor also recently spoke about his role in the upcoming sequel, particularly how M'Baku was affected by living through the five years in which half of all life was blipped.