WAKANDA FOREVER Writers Says M’Baku and Nakia Were Considered to Be the New Black Panther

When we learned that a new Black Panther was going to be introduced Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the fans immediately thought that it was going to be Letitia Wright’s Shuri. Her taking on the mantle of Black Panther just seemed like she was the obvious choice as she was his sister, and she was also a fan-favorite character. Oh yeah, she was also the new Black Panther in the comics. So, it wasn’t really a surprise when that’s who the new Black Panther ended up being.

According to Wakanda Forever writer Joe Robert Cole, there were other characters that were considered to take on the mantle of Black Panther, including M’Baku (Winston Duke) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o). During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he said:

“We would kick around the ideas, and try to extrapolate where the story goes and what’s the most impactful choice — what’s the best journey? And where do you go after the film in terms of those characters. M’Baku certainly was someone that got kicked around a little bit.”

Cole went on to talk about Shuri being the more natural choice, saying: “There’s a natural organic-ness, I guess is the best way to say it, to her becoming Panther [because of what happens in the comics]. But you kick the tires on all sorts of ideas. And you just want to make the best decision and do what’s best for the story.”

During the interview, the character Nakia was brought up as being a great choice for the new Black Panther as well, and Cole responded: “That got kicked around! Her name got kicked around for sure.”

There is another Black Panther coming, though, as it’s revealed that T’Challa’s had a son. This is something that did not change from the original script. It was revealed in the mid-credits scene that he is living in Haiti with Nakia. In regards to that aspect of the story, Cole said:

“T’Challa had a child in a previous iteration of the script prior to Chad’s passing. Him having a child was always in the DNA of what we wanted to do. We just weren’t sure, after he passed, about the best way to incorporate him. So there were various iterations of his son being in our new story. And we finally landed on the reveal at the end.

“There was a point where I think when Ramonda [Angela Bassett] goes to Haiti, we had talked about potentially having him be revealed there. So we knew we wanted him to be a part of the movie in some way, and landed, I think, on the best possible version.”

Are there any other characters you would have liked to see take on the mantle of Black Panther?