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Ryan Coogler has shared details about what Black Panther 2 would have looked like had Chadwick Boseman not died in 2020. Boseman, who was just 43, passed away after fighting pancreatic cancer.
The original Black Panther stands as one of Marvel’s greatest achievements. The 2018 film didn’t just cross the $1 billion mark at theaters worldwide – it became the MCU’s first and only Best Picture Oscar nominee.
Boseman’s death left an irreplaceable void in the film industry.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Coogler revealed he’d completed a massive 180-page draft for the sequel before Boseman’s passing. That’s equivalent to approximately three hours of screen time.
The director’s original vision centered on a fascinating Wakandan tradition.
“The big thing with the script was a thing called the Ritual of 8 where a prince is 8 years old, he must spend 8 days in the bush with his father. The rule is for those 8 days the prince can ask the father any question and the father must answer,” Coogler explained.
This ritual would’ve created the dramatic tension of the film. “In the course of those 8 days, Namor launches an attack… [T’Challa] had to deal with someone who’s insanely dangerous but because of this ritual, his son had to be joined at his hip the whole time or else they’d violate this ritual that had never been broken. It was insane.”
Coogler clearly had deep affection for this version of the story. “Chadwick was going to kill it, but life goes as it goes… 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.”
The Path Forward
Following Boseman’s death, Marvel and Coogler had to reimagine the sequel. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – released in 2022 – shifted focus to Letitia Wright’s character Shuri, who took up the Black Panther mantle.
The film honored Boseman’s legacy while finding a way to continue the story of Wakanda without its king. Despite the challenges, Wakanda Forever earned critical praise and commercial success – though many fans still wonder what might have been with Coogler’s original vision.
