Denzel Washington really doesn't want to talk about Black Panther 3!
The legendary actor revealed that director Ryan Coogler was writing a part for him in his Wakanda Forever follow-up while promoting Gladiator II late last year.
"For me, it's about the filmmaker, especially at this point in my career. 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."
The news was widely circulated, and Washington clearly realized that he'd let the cat (no pun) out of the bag a little prematurely.
“Ryan’s a genius,” Washington said during a more recent appearance on Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “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.”
Clearly unwilling to discuss the role in any further detail, Washington gave a very blunt response when quizzed about the threequel during a new interview with Screen Rant. When asked if he'd continued to discuss his role with Coogler, Washington replied: "That's between me and Ryan."
Fair enough!
There's been a lot of speculation about who Washington might play in the film (X-Men villain Magneto was even rumored at one point), but there's a chance Coogler created a brand-new character that wasn't previously introduced in the comic books.
Official details on Black Panther 3 are pretty much non-existent, but we have heard that the movie will introduce a new take on T'Challa. Whether this turns out to be a Multiversal variant of the hero the late Chadwick Boseman played or an older version of Toussaint, a.k.a. Prince T'Challa II, who was introduced at the end of Wakanda Forever remains to be seen.
Snowfall and F1 star Damson Idris was rumored to be on Marvel's radar for the role, and it sounds like he may have had a conversation or two about joining the MCU. While visiting Today (via EW) earlier this year, Idris was asked to participate in a game in which he could only give a "yes" or "no" answer to a series of questions.
“There’s some speculation out there in the universe that you could be cast as the next Black Panther,” said co-anchor Craig Melvin. “Have you had any conversations about that? Yes or no?”
Idris let out a groan, before responding: “Yes-no!”
Though the actor declined to elaborate, he didn't hesitate with a "yes" when asked if he'd agree to play the part if given the opportunity.
Whoever ends up accepting the role, the new T'Challa is expected to debut in one of the upcoming Avengers movies before going on to play a bigger part in Black Panther 3.