‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Shutting Down Production Until 2022

in Marvel, Movies & TV

chadwick boseman as t'challa aka black panther (left) and letitia wright as shuri (right)

Credit: Marvel Studios

Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to, with upcoming movies such as Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) has resonated more emotionally with fans, however, since star Chadwick Boseman died from cancer back in August 2020.

Now it seems production for the superhero sequel is being shut down temporarily due to an injury of one of its major cast members.

Letitia Wright
Credit: Marvel

Letitia Wright, who plays T’Challa’s younger sister Shuri in the Golden Globe-winning Black Panther (2018), was taken to the hospital back in August after injuring herself in a stunt on set.

After the injury, Wright left for London while the production continued to shoot around her character.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is temporarily shutting down due to the severity of this injury sustained by star Letitia Wright.

black panther 2
Credit: Marvel Studios

Wakanda Forever had been filming mostly in Atlanta for the last two months. Director Ryan Coogler is said to have shot all footage that his crew is able to without Wright physically present.

The production is apparently taking a hiatus to reconfigure the shoot to get things back on track for an early 2022 restart. The shutdown is expected to begin the week of Thanksgiving.

A representative for Wright explained to the Hollywood Reporter:

“Letitia has been recovering in London since September from injuries sustained on the set of Black Panther 2 and is looking forward to returning to work early 2022. Letitia kindly asks that you keep her in your prayers.”

Marvel already pushed back the release of the Black Panther sequel in October, moving it from July 8, 2022, to November 11, 2022. At this time, the new November release date remains unchanged.

black panther throne room
Credit: Marvel Studios

Wright’s Shuri became a fan-favorite breakout with her quips and performance in the MCU blockbuster, which grossed $1.3 billion and won three Oscars.

We last saw Princess Shuri in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Letitia Wright’s Shuri will be stepping up in the Black Panther sequel as the Marvel movie moves forward without T’Challa himself, Chadwick Boseman.

Director Ryan Coogler described the production as working “without the glue that held it together“. In Marvel Comics, Shuri in fact becomes the Black Panther after her brother T’Challa, once she takes the heart-shaped herb.

chadwick boseman as black panther
Credit: Marvel Studios

Marvel fans recently saw Chadwick’s final Marvel Studio performance in What If…?, the original series now streaming on Disney+, which explored an alternate timeline in which T’Challa became Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill.

Not much is known about the plot of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but it looks set to take fans back to the fictional African nation and follow characters Okoye (Danai Gurira), Ayo (Florence Kasumba), Nakia (Luptio Nyong’o), M’Baku (Winston Duke), W’kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), Ramonda (Angela Basset), and Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman).

It will also debut another Young Avenger and black superhero in Dominique Thorne‘s Riri Williams/ Ironheart.

everett k ross black panther 2
Credit: Marvel Studios

Letitia Wright recently had to backtrack on a controversial Twitter video questioning the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as a rumored anti-vaccination stance on the set of the MCU movie.

What do you hope happens in the upcoming Black Panther sequel?

in Marvel, Movies & TV

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