Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler tells comics writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about the impact Boseman had on Black Panther’s character, and how he felt when Boseman died right after Coogler completed his original Black Panther 2 script. The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast is out now.
With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever coming to theaters on Nov. 11, Marvel Entertainment has released the first in a series of behind-the-scenes deep dives about the making of the movie. The first episode of Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast, hosted by essayist and veteran Black Panther comics writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, starts with an emotional wallop: a personal recollection about what the first Black Panther film meant to Coates, and an initial conversation with director Ryan Coogler, who was deep in editing on Wakanda Forever when this episode was recorded.
Coogler will return in future episodes, which are scheduled to start rolling out in January: This one is mainly about the painful process of figuring out a Black Panther sequel without its intended star, Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 43.
The emotional difficulties of making the film without Boseman have been discussed extensively in the lead-up to Wakanda Forever, but the podcast goes further, with a particularly raw explanation from Coogler.
