Marvel Producer Reveals Surprising Black Panther Show Update

Black Panther's new series, Eyes of Wakanda, just got a wild update from one of Marvel's senior producers. The company's head of streaming, animation, and television Brad Winderbaum talked to Men's Health about X-Men '97 and more. During their conversation, the producer explained that Eyes of Wakanda is actually on the sacred timeline. So, this show is in the MCU officially. However, the animated show follows previous Black Panthers and Dora Milaje members who are tracking down vibranium artifacts. So, don't expect to see Shuri and company running around this year on Disney+. Here's what he had to say.

"We're exploring so many amazing avenues on the animated side. Eyes of Wakanda, more than any other show, fits right into our sacred MCU timeline continuity," Winderbaum revealed. "[Black Panther director Ryan Coogler] is a producer on it, Todd Harris is one of our long-time storyboard artists who directs it. It's about Wakandan history and mythology, and it's really cool. It looks amazing. And it feels like, 'Okay I'm getting an animated look into the MCU.'"

Who Else Is Working On Eyes Of Wakanda?

Ever since people got to see this show during the Marvel Animation sneak preview after What If Season 2's big fan event, questions have swirled around Eyes of Wakanda. Well, ComicBook.com also got the chance to speak to Winderbaum before Echo kicked off. The head of streaming was willing to talk with us about the Black Panther series. It seems like Ryan Coogler is directly involved with the production and Proximity Media is going to deliver something beautiful later this year. 

"It's a show we're producing in partnership with Proximity Media, with Ryan Coogler as one of our executive producers," Winderbaum told us. "The show was brought to us by Todd Harris, who was a longtime storyboard artist at the company, just like Bryan Andrews was, who is the director of What If...? He pitched the show to Ryan and he pitched the show to Kevin and I, and we were like, 'Let's do it.' I don't want to say too much about it, only that people do not see it coming."

Eyes Of Wakanda Has Been Cooking For A While

Another surprising detail that fans might have missed is that Marc Bernardin wrote a few episodes of Eyes of Wakanda. The Kevin Smith collaborator talked about it on their podcast, Fatman Beyond. Bernardin handled writing two episodes of the Black Panther animated series. He had to hide the details for months as he was doing press for other projects. Eyes of Wakanda began to take shape much earlier in the pandemic. Now, fans are getting to see what Marvel Animation was up to. If X-Men '97 and What If…? are any indications, this should be fun.

"They announced the show with some footage called Eyes of Wakanda. Almost nobody knows anything about the Eyes of Wakanda," Smith told people before Bernardin revealed, "I do! I wrote two episodes of it. So, I know some things about Eyes of Wakanda. I can't say anything besides that or the snipers will get twitchy."

Are you surprised the show takes place in the MCU? Let us know down in the comments!