Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Plot Details Reveal Major Time Jump After T'Challa's Death

The king is dead. Long live Wakanda. In Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the kingdom is mourning King T'Challa(Chadwick Boseman), who died sometime after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Boseman — who first played the Wakandan warrior in 2016's Captain America: Civil War before returning in 2018's Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War — died of cancer in August 2020, before production started on filmmaker Ryan Coogler's sequel. When a new enemy surfaces to threaten their nation, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) must move forward and heal from the loss of their beloved son and brother.

New materials released to press reveal how much time has passed since T'Challa's death: 12 months.

"Ramonda realizes that it's been a year since T'Challa's passing and Shuri's still not healing — she's not taking steps to move forward in a healthy way," said director and co-writer Coogler. "They take a retreat — stepping away from the city, from the technology — to sit with no distractions and perform what is essentially a grief ritual. That's when Namor shows up."

Namor (Tenoch Huerta) is the hybrid mutant king of Talocan, a hidden undersea nation that rivals Wakanda. Along with his allies Namora (Mabel Cadena) and Attuma (Alex Livanalli), Namor and the Talocanians prepare to wage war with the surface dwellers.

In 2020, Marvel Studios chief and Black Panther producer Kevin Feige confirmed the Marvel Cinematic Universe would not recast T'Challa. The studio said in a statement that the Black Panther sequel would "explore the world of Wakanda and the rich characters in the first film" as a way of "honoring Chadwick Boseman's legacy and portrayal of T'Challa."

"It just felt like it was much too soon to recast," Feige recently told Empire. "Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there's a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan poured that into the story."

Reads Disney's synopsis for Black Panther 2: "Queen Ramonda (Bassett), Shuri (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."

Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens only in theaters November 11th.