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Director Ryan Coogler has revealed new details about his original plans for Black Panther 2 before the death of star Chadwick Boseman.
During an appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Coogler said he had already completed a full 180-page draft of the sequel when Boseman died in August 2020 from colon cancer. The script centered on an emotional father-son journey between Boseman’s King T’Challa and his then-8-year-old son, introducing a Wakandan tradition called the “Ritual of 8.”
“The big thing with the script was a thing called the Ritual of 8,” Coogler explained. “Where a prince is 8 years old, he must spend 8 days in the bush with his father. The rule is for those 8 days the prince can ask the father any question and the father must answer.”
According to Coogler, the ritual would've created high-stakes tension when Namor, who would later appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, launched an attack during the journey.
“He had to deal with someone who’s insanely dangerous,” Coogler said, “but because of this ritual, his son had to be joined at his hip the whole time, or else they’d violate this ritual that had never been broken.”
“It was insane,” he added. “Chadwick was going to kill it.”
Coogler confirmed he had reached out to Boseman to read the script, but the actor was already too sick.
“He was at a place where it wasn’t going to happen,” Coogler said. “I found out after his passing from his family and his friends about how much I meant to him… I wonder if he knew how much he meant to me.”
The director said the script represented his growing understanding of Boseman’s range as a performer.
“I threw a lot at him in the first ‘Panther,’ but I realized I was just scratching the surface,” Coogler said. “I loved that script. I put so much into that version of the movie.”
Boseman’s death led Marvel Studios and Coogler to completely rework the sequel, resulting in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which centered on grief, legacy, and the loss of T’Challa.
Coogler is currently developing a third Black Panther film at Marvel Studios, continuing the legacy that began with Boseman’s iconic performance.
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