Key Takeaways
- The unreleased Black Panther 2 script followed T’Challa guiding his son through a Wakandan rite of passage.
- Chadwick Boseman was too ill to read the script before his passing, though it was written with him in mind.
- Ryan Coogler shared how Boseman supported and protected him during the original film’s production.
Ryan Coogler is opening up about the version of Black Panther’s sequel that never made it to the screen. Speaking on a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, the director shared details about the original script for the second Black Panther film, which he had to rework following the death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020.
Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa in the 2018 Marvel blockbuster, was intended to carry a central and deeply personal arc in the sequel. Coogler said he completed a draft and reached out to Boseman before learning how sick the actor had become. “I finished it… And I hit him up to read it, and he was too sick to read, bro… That was kind of how the timing was, he was at a place it wasn’t gonna happen,” he explained.
At the heart of the original story was a father-son storyline centered on a Wakandan tradition Coogler called the Ritual of 8. “The big thing about the script was that it was this thing called the Ritual of 8 when a prince is 8 years old, he has to go spend 8 days in the bush with his father,” the Oakland native said. “The rule is for those 8 days, the prince can ask the father any question and the father has to answer.”
During that period, Coogler revealed that Namor, who is played by Tenoch Huerta in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, would have launched an attack, forcing T’Challa to navigate leadership, danger, and fatherhood simultaneously. “It was insane, bro, and Chadwick was going to kill it… but life goes as it goes,” he said. “I got a chance to make a movie about women… I love that movie so much.”
Elsewhere during the conversation, the Creed director spoke candidly about his bond with Boseman. “Our relationship was really interesting,” he recalled. “He meant a lot to me but I found out after his passing from his family and from his friends how much I meant to him, which f**ked me up pretty good, bro. I wondered if he knew just how much he meant to me. I did wonder.”
Coogler continued, “He protected me from a lot, bro. Our relationship was one of a lot of protection… I was convinced, on the toughest days on Panther, I was convinced that I was gonna get fired. I would say that. I would say it all the time, bro. Like if the actors [were] taking their time to get out of makeover, like, ‘Y'all gotta hurry up or they gonna fire me.’ You know what I mean? And one day, he took me to the side and he was like, ‘Yo, stop saying that.’ … I was like, ‘Man, I really feel that way.’ He was like, ‘Look at me, bro… I would never let that happen to you.’"
The 39-year-old added, “But I loved that script. I put so much into that version of the movie because I felt like I had gotten to know Chadwick as a performer… I threw a lot at him in the first Panther, but I realized I was just scratching the surface.”
Ryan Coogler found confidence in Hollywood after ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
As previously reported by REVOLT, Coogler has said directing Black Panther: Wakanda Forever helped quiet long-held doubts about his place in Hollywood. In an interview with The New York Times, he reflected, “There were points in that movie where it felt unfinishable, so when we put it out, and I was happy with the film, I felt like, ‘OK, I could do this for the rest of my life.’”
A third Black Panther film is currently in development at Marvel Studios, with Coogler confirmed to return as director.