Black Panther's Ryan Coogler Hints at Future Wakanda Stories in the MCU
Marvel Studios recently wrapped up their Phase Four slate of projects with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and it definitely was a great send-off. Wakanda Forever revealed that Shuri (Letitia Wright) succeeds T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) as Black Panther after the actor tragically passed away. We also get introduced to some new characters like Riri Williams / Iron Heart (Dominique Thorne) and Namor (Tenoch Huerta) as the films main antagonist. The film ends in a way that could set up several different stories for the future of Wakanda and the Black Panther, but there haven't been any announcements about a third movie. Ryan Coogler hasn't said anything about doing a third film and he is developing a Wakanda-based series for Disney+, but now the director is hinting at future Wakanda stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During a recent interview with the New York Times, Coogler revealed that he would love to continue doing these stories.
"I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to work on these movies, bro. When I got asked to do the first one, it was like a moving train," Coogler said. "I thank God every day that I was able to jump on it and meet these people, these actors, and to meet Chadwick during some of the last years of his life. I'll do it as long as folks will have me. But I think it's bigger than just me or Joe. Between the first and second movie, we made $2 billion at the box office, which is what matters the most to corporations. So I hope that it continues, man. I hope people are still making movies about Wakanda long after we're gone."
The studio unveiled their plans for the next three years, with two new Avengers movies being announced. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars will both make their way into theaters in 2025. One thing that wasn't announced on the slate was a third Black Panther movie. Even though it's all but guaranteed that fans will receive a third Black Panther movie, Marvel producer Nate Moore revealed during a recent interview that the studio and Ryan Coogler both want to see the fan response to the highly-anticipated sequel before agreeing to do a third film in the franchise.
"That's a great question. To be honest, this is not me trying to not answer the question," Moore said. "We really want to see how audiences receive the film, and I think Ryan's really interested to see how the film plays before we decide. There are certainly ideas we've floated around of what a third film could be if we get to make it. But until the movie comes out, we're a bit superstitious in that way. We don't want to count our chickens, because you never know what's going to happen."
The most recent Marvel Studios film to hit theaters was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the sequel, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T'Challa's death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.
Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominque Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is exclusively in theaters now!
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