The Black Panther 2 Script Is In Trouble
A new interview raises concerns about the script for Black Panther 2.
This article is more than 2 years old
Black Panther 2, officially titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is coming. Eventually. It has a release date scheduled for July 8, 2022. However, this movie is facing a big challenge. Chadwick Boseman sadly passed away in August of 2020. The team behind the sequel promised that they won’t be recasting his character. Ever since there has been a question surrounding how they’ll handle T’Challa’s absence in a way that honors his character and the actor who played him. Will the writers really be able to find a way around this that makes sense for the audience? According to what actress Angela Bassett has shared, they’re having a hard time with it. She is aware of five scripts so far for Black Panther 2 and tells ET that she believes another is still on the way. What does this mean for the final movie?
As Angela Bassett sees it, this means that the writers of Black Panther 2 are making sure they get the story right. She said, “Of course, with our dear king going on to glory, a lot of things had to be shifted and changed, so thankfully, Ryan [Coogler] and Joe Robert Cole, they’re just such masterful storytellers that they’ve found a way into this world and hopefully it will be satisfying, I think, for the fans and it will be honorable of our Chad. We love our king.”
However, there are two ways to see this news. There have been five versions of the script for Black Panther 2. Is this a sign that the writers are making great progress toward a final product that will honor Chadwick Boseman, his character, and his fans? Is it a sign that the Marvel movie will successfully be able to craft a story that satisfies this situation? Or is it a sign that the movie is in trouble and that, as many on the outside would guess, getting the script right on this story may not be possible?
The interviews with the team always sound overwhelmingly positive and assured that this movie will come to be something great. There are many in the audience who are nervous, so this overwhelmingly positive branding may be necessary as reassurance. But what will the end result be? Can any writer really make Black Panther 2 great with T’Challa? Is there reason to hope?
While most can’t understand a way for the story to move forward without T’Challa, there is plenty of reason to hope. Black Panther was full of so many rich characters. The Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole script was impactful. The film stood out from other Marvel movies, while still managing to fit in. While sequels are often considered harder to write anything, and Black Panther 2 has a huge problem to absorb storywise, there’s every reason to believe that the team behind this movie is dedicated to getting the script right. One of the biggest concerns could be that they would rush the new script after Boseman’s passing since that must have changed the entire story. However, perhaps instead of being a sign of trouble, the five scripts and counting are actually a sign that they’re giving themselves the room to get this right. Here’s hoping.
