Black Panther 2 Has Had Around Five Different Scripts According to Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett is currently promoting her new movie, Gunpowder Milkshake, which is being released next week and also stars Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, and Paul Giamatti. Naturally, Bassett’s press tour has included questions about another highly-anticipated movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Black Panther sequel has been through many different stages due to Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing and fans are curious to see where director Ryan Coogler will take the story. According to Bassett, there have already been five different scripts for the sequel.

“I don’t know what it’s going to look like at all,” Bassett told ET. “There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming.” She added, “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.”

Martin Freeman, who played Evertt K. Ross in Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther, is also expected to reprise his role for the sequel. In another chat with ET, Freeman revealed that he’s heard the movie’s entire new plot from Coogler.

“I had a Zoom call with Ryan Coogler, the director and co-writer about seven or eight weeks ago, I suppose,” Freeman shared. “He sort of meticulously took me through all of my character’s beats in the film. He took me through the film, but incorporating my character’s beats.”

“Some of it was very odd, and I think [Coogler] could see from the reaction on my face to some of the things he was saying,” Freeman added with a laugh. “He kept sort of stopping, and he kept going, ‘Stay with me, but this is going to work.’” When asked if the sequel will live up to the hype, Freeman replied, “I mean, we’ve not done it yet, who knows, we might make it awful, but I’m hoping we won’t … I hope people will be in for a treat.”

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is expected to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. In the meantime, you can see Bassett in Gunpowder Milkshake, which is being released on Netflix and in select theatres on July 14th.