"Wakanda Forever" Cast on Honoring Chadwick Boseman: It's "What [He] Would've Wanted"
The years-long journey to bring "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" to life following Chadwick Boseman's death in 2020 has been a long one, but the movie's talented cast is honored to have paid tribute to the actor's legacy in such an incredible way.
"He would've wanted us to continue the legacy that he built."
The highly anticipated follow-up to 2018's "Black Panther" finally premiered on Nov. 11, and it took blood, sweat, and plenty of tears to make happen. In an exclusive interview with POPSUGAR, "Wakanda Forever" stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira open up about what the emotional sequel means to them and how they were able to honor their late costar, both on set and onscreen.
"When he passed away, we were all wondering how to move forward," Nyong'o shares. Gurira adds, "This is what Chadwick would've wanted. He would've wanted us to continue the legacy that he built." Wright also touched on how the first "Black Panther" movie "broke so many records" and defied the odds for a Marvel movie with an all-Black cast. "We put a sword through it, chopped through that lie, and just proved ourselves," she says.
Nyong'o goes on to break down "Wakanda Forever"'s message about grief and mourning, explaining how it reflects the way the cast and crew dealt with losing Boseman in real life. "What they did is they embraced the truth. We'd lost Chadwick Boseman and so they had us as Wakandans losing T'Challa and asking the question, 'How do you move forward when you experience such loss and tragedy in your life?'" she says.
Watch the video above to find out what the rest of the "Wakanda Forever" cast had to say about the sequel, and the sweet way the movie's crew made sure a piece of Boseman was still on set.