Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's emotional trailer honors Chadwick Boseman
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Who will be the next Black Panther?
That question hangs over the emotional first trailer for Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which pays tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman's character, King T'Challa. Set to the song "No Woman, No Cry," the footage sees the people of Wakanda mourning their king, and Marvel has confirmed the sequel will grapple with the death of T'Challa.
"My entire family is gone," T'Challa's mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), says in the trailer, and T'Challa's sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), is seen staring into the distance and crying. We see a mural dedicated to T'Challa, and the trailer ends with a shot of another character in the Black Panther suit heading into battle, but their identity isn't revealed.
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The trailer also includes first looks at Namor, a new character from Atlantis played by Tenoch Huerta, and Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, who will become something of a Tony Stark successor known as Ironheart.
Boseman died in August 2020 after a private battle with cancer, leading the Black Panther sequel, which had not yet started filming, to undergo significant rewrites. Later that year, Marvel announced it wouldn't recast Boseman's character, but the studio hasn't revealed who will assume the Black Panther mantle.
"Chad is no longer with us physically," director Ryan Coogler said during a Comic-Con presentation. "But his spirit, his passion, his genius, his pride in his culture, and the impact that he made on this industry will be felt forever."
Wakanda Forever hits theaters in November 2022, concluding phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Watch the trailer below.
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
