British actress Letitia Wright has resumed filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, five months after sustaining an on-set injury in August of last year. Initially thought to be a minor accident, filming continued without Wright for as long as possible, until the production finally had to shut down in November.
It turns out that Wright had sustained “a critical shoulder fracture, and a concussion with severe side effects.”
Wright plays Shuri, the sister of T’Challa, known as the Black Panther. When the actor who plays T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman, tragically passed away in 2020, the decision was made not to recast the role. It is expected that Shuri will play a more central part in the long-delayed sequel to the hit 2018 film.
A message to the cast and crew from Kevin Feige and other Marvel execs came out in November, saying “We’ve adjusted our production schedule so (Wright) has the time she needs to heal, but there’s only so much we can do without Shuri!…As of now, we’re on schedule to resume filming – with Letitia – in January 2022.”
It sounds as if this is exactly what has happened, as a spokesperson for Letitia Wright has told BBC News: “Filming resumed this month as planned and we’re on schedule.”
The 2018 film, which also starred Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman, made 1.3 billion at the box office.
The sequel has shifted schedule several times, for a multitude of understandable reasons, but it is clear that Marvel and Disney will now be desperate to stick to the proposed November 2022 release date.
If you’re as excited for Black Panther 2 as we are, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4.