Wakanda Forever writers considered multiple characters for the role of Black Panther

This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Once it was decided that Marvel wouldn’t recast T’Challa in the wake of Chadwick Boseman’s death, a new question arose: Who will become the new Black Panther? Fans got their answer in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, one that fit with the character’s comic counterpart as well as her journey on screen. But she wasn’t the only person that the screenwriters considered to take up the mantle.

Joe Robert Cole, who co-wrote the script with director Ryan Coogler, tells Rolling Stone that Shuri (Letitia Wright) had some competition for the role. “We would kick around the ideas, and try to extrapolate where the story goes and what’s the most impactful choice—what’s the best journey? And where do you go after the film in terms of those characters. M’Baku [Winston Duke] certainly was someone that got kicked around a little bit.” He also reveals of Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), “Her name got kicked around for sure.”

Still, Cole says there’s a “natural organicness” to Shuri becoming Black Panther, especially because there’s a complementary comic book storyline. “But you kick the tires on all sorts of ideas. And you just want to make the best decision and do what’s best for the story,” he adds.

Another character whose story was adjusted is T’Challa’s son, who was a part of the script even before Boseman passed away. “Him having a child was always in the DNA of what we wanted to do. We just weren’t sure, after he passed, about the best way to incorporate him. So there were various iterations of his son being in our new story,” Cole explains.

Coogler previously said that the sequel idea while Boseman was alive had to do with the grief of losing time during “The Blip.” That possibly could have manifested in the time he lost with his son, as Cole says the previous iteration of the script was “more child-focused in the narrative.” When they were forced to revise, “[There] were conversations about, when do we reveal this information to the audience and what’s the best version of it? Not only emotionally, but just narratively for the story and how it affects the characters in the story when they find out this information, and so forth,” Cole shares. “We played around a little bit, but he was never going to have a much a larger presence after Chad passed.”

The future of the Wakandan prince may be addressed in a third installment, but Cole says there haven’t yet been discussions about another Black Panther movie. He is, however, open to returning: “I loved my time working with Kevin [Feige] and Lou [D’Esposito] and Victoria [Alonso] and Nate [Moore] and obviously Ryan. I feel very blessed and fortunate to be a part of Marvel and to work on projects,” he tells the outlet. “I always answer the phone. If they have something they wanna talk to me about, I’m open to hear it!”