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Black Panther 2 director on final conversation with Chadwick Boseman

Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther 2, has shared details about his final conversation with the late Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa.

Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther

The director of Black Panther 2, Ryan Coogler, has shared details about his final call with Chadwick Boseman. Coogler directed the first Black Panther Marvel movie, and has returned to helm the upcoming sequel to the action movie too.

The first Black Panther movie starred Chadwick Boseman as the Wakandan royalty T’Challa. With his Vibranium suit, T’Challa became the superhero Black Panther. He faced off against Killmonger and other villains to claim the Wakandan throne, and protect his hidden country from malign external influences. Boseman also portrayed T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, and the two most recent Avengers superhero movies.

Boseman was lined up to continue playing the MCU character into the future. However, the actor died at the age of 43 in 2020. He left behind an impressive cinematic legacy, having influenced and inspired fans around the world with his positive portrayal of an immensely popular Black superhero.

Now, Coogler has reflected on his memory of the final conversation between himself and Boseman, revealing that Boseman never got to read the initial script for Black Panther 2. Speaking on the Official Black Panther Podcast, he said “I had just finished [the script for Black Panther 2]. My last conversation with [Boseman] was calling him and asking if he wanted to read it before I got notes from the studio. That was the last time we spoke, and he passed maybe a couple of weeks after I finished.”

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Coogler continued “He was tired, bro. I could tell he was tired. I’d been trying to get a hold of him for a few days. […] I could tell something was up. But he was joking and laughing, talking about how he was planning a wedding in South Carolina, talking about the people he was going to invite.”

The director then shared that Boseman turned down the chance to read the script, saying “And then he said he didn’t want to read it, because he didn’t want to get in the way of whatever notes the studio might have, so he was like ‘It’s better if I read it later.’ But I found out later that he was too tired to read anything.”

With the loss of Boseman, the run-up to Black Panther 2 has been filled with lots of emotion, and this news will add to that sense of grief. After Boseman’s death Coogler had to undertake substantial rewrites for Black Panther 2, so the script he was preparing to show Boseman is not the one that fans will see on the screen upon the release of the superhero movie. Above all, fans will be hoping that Black Panther 2 manages to honour the legacy of Boseman, while continuing the story of Wakanda in a new way.

For more on Black Panther 2, check out our guides to Shuri and Ironheart.