Ryan Coogler Explains Why He Could Never Recreate Black Panther

With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever In theaters on November 11, Marvel Entertainment announced the first in a series of insightful behind-the-scenes insights into the making of the film. The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcasthosted by essayists and veterans Black Panther comic book writer Ta-Nehisi Coatesbegins with an emotional wall: a personal recollection of what Black Panther’s first movie meant for Coates and an initial conversation with Directed by Ryan Cooglerwho deeply edited about Wakanda Forever when this episode was recorded.

Coogler will return in future episodes, slated to begin airing in January: This episode is mainly about the harrowing process of finding a Black Panther sequel without its expected star, Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.

The emotional difficulties of making a film without Boseman has been widely discussed lead to Wakanda Forever, but the podcast goes even further, with a particularly rudimentary explanation from Coogler. He was clearly in tears during a conversation with Coates, who was also a friend of Boseman, from their days at Howard University. Coogler explains that a director’s main job, as he sees them, is to convince others to believe in their ideas and their truths – and in that respect, Boseman is even a manager for the staff. this object and this world, than the original. appeared.

Specifically, he talked about the Boseman origin of the character T’Challa in Captain America: Civil Waralmost two years ago Black Pantherrelease and how to involve a “difficult conversation” with fellow Marvel about how civil war will shape T’Challa’s hometown, Wakanda. Coogler didn’t participate in the specific feedback Boseman received from Marvel, but he does credit the actor’s vision as the main reason the character came to life – both on a creative level, as the movie did. planned and on a realistic level, as the two men worked together and Coogler worries about the pressure to make the movie great.

Photo: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Studios

In Coogler’s words, this is ultimately why reprising T’Challa wasn’t considered a viable option, even though he wrote a script that was tightly focused on the character and completed it only weeks before Boseman’s death. The director must be able to sell his truth to his colleagues, and the truth they are facing, though sad, is inevitable: “Heroes, great men… die.” Basically, Boseman feels the journey of Black Panther and Wakanda in general is his job, so Coogler feels a responsibility to continue it for him.

It was a fascinating conversation, in large part because Coogler could be heard renegotiating the roles of the actors and the director as he made his way through the re-imagining. Wakanda Forever both as a tribute, as well as a way forward. He seems to consider Black Panther Boseman’s movies are as much as his – and maybe, even without Boseman, the same holds true for sequels.

The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast To be available on Spotify and other podcast platforms. According to Marvel, “Continued episodes will premiere weekly in January 2023, the fifth anniversary of the release of the first Black Panther movie.”