This November, we will see plenty of familiar faces when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases, including Winston Duke. The actor will reprise his role as M’Baku, and like other returning cast and crew members, the upcoming Marvel film was a time of both creativity and mourning since the death of leading star Chadwick Boseman. In an interview with Collider, the Us actor spoke about what it was like coming onto the set for that first day.
“In one way, it was very joyous to be back with people you love and care about, and who are open to just play and experiment and create. And then, it was really sad, not having our guy and our friend, who was someone we looked up to, and was someone who expressed that they looked up to you.”
Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 of cancer, kept his illness private. It came up right as he blew up to become a superstar. Between Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods and his role at T’Challa in the MCU across Civil War, Black Panther, Infinity War, Endgame, and What If…?, he cemented himself in the industry and with his fans. It also made fans wonder where the MCU would take his character and Wakanda. As he won’t be recast, we will see the supporting cast and the fictional country take the spotlight while honoring him. The trailer gives a hint of it with a memorial to the actor and how the country is handling the loss of its leader.
Winston Duke talks filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
The grief from the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Winston Duke talked about how it took one day at a time. He also opened up about how it was not just him and the cast; it was everybody.
“It was something that we dealt with, every day, and something that we got to understand, every day, that we’re not the only people grieving. Not only the people who are in front of [the] camera are grieving, it’s everybody.”
Returning to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, and Florence Kasumba. We will get the introduction of major comic characters like the antagonist Namos, played by Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico). We will also be introduced to Dominique Thorne (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Riri Williams, also known as Ironheart, who will get her Disney Plus series next year. The upcoming film will be the end of Phase 4 of the MCU, with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special following it as an “epilogue,” according to James Gunn. Next year’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will begin Phase 5.