Chadwick Boseman Reveals His Hopes for Black Panther 2

Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who next returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther II, hopes the sequel builds upon and explores the rich world established in the first film set in the technologically advanced African kingdom of Wakanda. There T'Challa was forced to fend off cousin Erik 'Killmonger' Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) to defend the throne and his people when taking his place as king following the death of father T'Chaka (John Kani) in Captain America: Civil War.

"I think, you know, hopefully we can maintain the foundation that we sort of set and build upon it and expand it and explore it. That's what I hope," Boseman told MTV International when promoting new movie 21 Bridges, produced by Boseman's Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo. "But I think first you have to maintain the foundation. We built a culture and a world, so you have to make sure that you keep that in place."

In preparing his first sequel to a film he's directed, the filmmaker previously admitted there's "a lot of pressure" in returning for a followup to a cultural phenomenon that grossed $1.34 billion at the worldwide box office.

"I think the pressure is kind of always going to be there," Coogler told IndieWire. "I've had a chance to make three feature films, each one of them had its own very specific type of pressure. In the process of it, it feels insurmountable each time."

He continued, "When it comes to making a sequel, I've never done it before, a sequel to something that I've directed myself. So I think there's gonna be a lot of pressure there, but what we're going to try to do is just focus on the work, like we always do. Really try to go step by step and try to quiet everything else around us, really focus on trying to make something that has some type of meaning."

Story details remain under wraps, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige previously told EW the studio has "ideas and a pretty solid direction on where we want to head with the second one."

Black Panther II opens May 6, 2022.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021. Other MCU properties without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.