Will Shuri Become the Black Panther in Marvel’s Upcoming Sequel?

For the past few months, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been filming principal photography in a few locations across the United States. As of Friday, however, the production temporarily shut down to give Letitia Wright time to recuperate from an injury she suffered earlier in the year. Now, it’s expected the cast and crew will have the next two months off before production picks back up next year. Nestled away in the initial report was a little tidbit that might suggest Wright has a substantially larger role in the second film—potentially even donning the Black Panther suit.

Through the initial reporting from THR, it’s noted that Shuri has been “elevated as the lead of the sequel” after the death of Chadwick Boseman last August. With Shuri being the new lead of the Black Panther franchise, it makes sense for the character to become the one the movies are named after.

In fact, there’s even precedence in the Marvel Comics source material. Beginning with Black Panther #5 (August 2009), Shuri became the primary warrior of Wakanda, becoming the Black Panther after T’Challa and Storm are sucked to Limbo.

Last December, Wright found herself surrounded by controversy after passing an anti-vaccine video to those following her on Twitter. The actor subsequently deleted her Twitter account and apologized for sharing the video.

“my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies. Nothing else,” Wright tweeted at the time.

It’s since been reported that Marvel (and Disney) is subsequently mandating vaccines for those working on any of the studio’s films.

Though little is known about the sequel, Martin Freeman says fans of the MCU will be in for a treat.

“I had a Zoom call with Ryan Coogler, the director and co-writer about seven or eight weeks ago, I suppose,” Wakanda Forever star Martin Freeman shared back in May. “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.”

Wright will be joined by Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Dominique Thorne, and Martin Freeman, amongst others. Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on November 11, 2022.