Ryan Coogler, the director of the MCU’s Black Panther movies, has revealed that his original Black Panther 2 script, written before Chadwick Boseman’s death, featured Boseman’s Black Panther on a ritual journey with his child. Coogler made it clear that the film didn’t change due to story issues, as it changed because of life, loss, and respect for Boseman’s legacy.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Coogler revealed his original Black Panther 2 plans.
Coogler’s Black Panther 2 was built around T’Challa as a father, exploring legacy, responsibility, and the passing of wisdom to the next generation. The story revolved around a sacred Wakandan rite in which an 8-year-old prince spends eight days in the bush with his father, allowed to ask any question.
Coogler said, “The big thing with the script was something called the Ritual of 8, where a prince is 8 years old and must spend eight days in the bush with his father. The rule is that for those eight days, the prince can ask the father any question, and the father must answer. In the course of those eight 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 a ritual that had never been broken. It was insane. Chadwick was going to kill it, but life goes as it goes… I loved that script.”
Coogler added, “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. It was a 180-page draft.”
Ryan Coogler Reveals Sony Refused to Let Kraven Be the Villain in Black Panther
Coogler has revealed that Sony blocked him from using Kraven the Hunter as the main villain in Black Panther.
“[Marvel] hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Ryan Coogler Confirms He Is Working on Black Panther 3
“It’s a movie I’m incredibly excited about. That’s really the truth of it. I did get a chance to move through an inescapable human emotion that is like the emotion of grief [with Wakanda Forever].”
Black Panther 3 is reportedly set to release in 2028.
Source: Variety
