Angela Bassett wasn't always keen on Queen Ramonda’s arc in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

[This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.]

Following her original appearance as Wakanda’s Queen Ramonda in Black Panther, Angela Bassett was not sure how she would continue to fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She would go on to appear in 2019's Avengers: Endgame as Ramonda, but the outlook on her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remained still blurry. Then, with the death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020, it became very clear how vital Bassett’s Ramonda would be in the long-awaited sequel.

“At the end of [Black Panther] I didn’t know if I was coming back. I certainly hoped I would. I didn’t die,” Bassett tells IndieWire.

In the wake of Boseman’s death, Bassett recalls a phone call with writer-director Ryan Coogler. “Ramonda now has got to step up,” she says he told her. “She’s got to be there for Shuri, she’s queen. You’re just a very important place in this movie.”

The role of Ramonda would take on a new weight for Bassett for Wakanda Forever, especially as she took over the throne previously held by Boseman’s T’Challa.

“I just felt a responsibility,” she says. “I remember the first day, the first scene where I had to sit [on the throne], it’s like, ‘How exactly do I sit here? What is the best posture to convey who she is?’”

As aforementioned by Bassett, Ramonda did not die in the first Black Panther film. However, Coogler had very different plans this time around, much to the chagrin of Bassett.

“I objected,” Bassett says. “Yeah, I was like, ‘Ryan, what are you doing? Why? You will rue the day! You will rue the demise of [Ramonda]. People are gonna be so upset.’”

“‘He was like, ‘Angela, I know, I know, but look, to die is not really to die in this world. It doesn’t really have to mean that,’” she continues. He then reminded Bassett how death is often undone in the Marvel universe, and there’s always the chance she could come back.

When it comes to her possible return to Wakanda, Bassett says, “All kinds of crazy things happen.”