'Black Panther' producer on not recasting T'Challa after Chadwick Boseman's death
"We just couldn't do it."
Nate Moore, who's produced Marvel movies including "Black Panther" and most recently with "Eternals," opened up about the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving on without Chadwick Boseman.
The celebrated actor, who was introduced as T'Challa/Black Panther in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War" and was last seen in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," died in 2020 of colon cancer. He was 43.
"You will not see T'Challa in [future Marvel films]," Moore said on "The Ringer-Verse" podcast, referring the studio's choice not to recast the part or use a CG version of him. "We just couldn't do it."
"When Chad passed, it was a real conversation we had with [director Ryan] Coogler about what do we do, and it was a fast conversation," Moore continued. "It wasn't weeks, it was minutes of we had to figure out how to move that franchise on without that character. Because I think we all feel so much of T'Challa in the MCU on the screen -- not in comics -- is tied to Chadwick's performance, is what he brought to that role both on- and off-screen."
"So as hard as it has been narratively to figure out what to do, because that's a big hole, at no point did we consider recasting," Moore said. "So the challenge for 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' is telling a story without T'Challa."
Moore said in the 2022 sequel that "there will be a level of ... catharsis in people coming back this universe without that guy, because that guy and that universe to me are one in the same." He added that "as filmmakers and storytellers, you have to figure out ... what you want that movie to say about that guy who's not going to be in it."
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