‘Black Panther’ Cast Comments on Ryan Coogler’s Sequel

The stars of Black Panther are confident the Ryan Coogler-directed sequel will live up to and [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The stars of Black Panther are confident the Ryan Coogler-directed sequel will live up to and surpass the first film, which star Sterling K. Brown expects will be comparable to The Godfather: Part II.

"It's one of those things where honestly, to be able to build on that legacy and those characters and the world that Ryan built — you know, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created years ago — but allow Ryan to actually tell that story, if there's an opportunity to come back and do a second one...

"I mean, take myself out of that situation [laughs], but for everybody to come back, I think I speak for everybody up here, it would be a tremendous accomplishment," Michael B. Jordan said backstage at the SAG Awards after the ensemble took home the top prize for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

"Sequels, I think, are one of the hardest films to make, and I feel like to create a world and build upon it that's so beautifully and delicately woven into the world of the Marvel Universe — but throughout cinema in general, you take Marvel out of it, I think it's a movie that stands against all film across the board.

"So yeah, I think if there was an opportunity, I think everybody would be pretty excited to come back around."

"Because Ryan signed on," added Brown, who played the late N'Jobu, father to Jordan's Erik 'Killmonger' Stevens.

"Yeah, there's no question," said T'Challa star Chadwick Boseman.

"He doesn't lose, you know what I'm saying? Bruh is three-for-three, he's gonna be four-for-four, and the Marvel team gave him all the support that they needed with [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige... he's a beast, man," Brown added of the Fruitvale Station and Creed director.

"He ain't going to slip. Godfather II. Like, be ready."

Coogler in October inked a deal to return as writer-director for Black Panther 2, after his groundbreaking entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe earned $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office to become the ninth highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing superhero film domestically at $700 million.

In February, Feige recalled in an interview with ABC News he once "instinctually" leaned over to Coogler after a screening of Black Panther and told the filmmaker, "'That's the best movie we've ever made.'"

Black Panther has since become the first-ever superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, a feat Feige credits to the 32-year-old filmmaker from Oakland, California.

"To me, the best thing a producer can do is find a person with something to say, who has a story to tell and can tell it in a way that the world responds to," Feige told The New York Times. "That's what Mr. Coogler has done for us."

Marvel Studios is expected to officially announce Black Panther 2 sometime after the April 26 opening of Avengers: Endgame.

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