When Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted in theaters, the film ensured there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The beginning of the emotional Marvel sequel includes a proper funeral for King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Wakanda’s former ruler and protector. The funeral sequence is extraordinarily moving and sets the tone for one of Marvel’s most mature films. I’m not ashamed to admit I cried twice while watching Shuri, Queen Ramonda, M’Baku, and the grief-stricken warriors of Wakanda bid their hero farewell. However, before Chadwick Boseman’s passing, Coogler had different ideas for the film’s opening salvo.
Speaking with The New York Times, Coogler revealed the original plan for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to be a father-and-son story, emphasizing Toussaint (Divine Love Konadu-Sun) – T’Challa and Nakia’s (Lupita Nyong’o) son. The final cut of Wakanda Forever introduces Toussaint at the film’s conclusion, letting fans know that T’Challa’s bloodline is already flowing through another generation. Initially, Coogler’s plan involved showing how T’Challa missed the first five years of Toussaint’s life because Thanos snapped him out of existence.
“It was absolutely nothing like what we made. It was going to be a father-son story from the perspective of a father, because the first movie had been a father-son story from the perspective of the sons. In the script, T’Challa was a dad who’d had this forced five-year absence from his son’s life [because of the Blip]. The first scene was an animated sequence. You hear Nakia talking to Toussaint. She says, ‘Tell me what you know about your father.’ You realize that he doesn’t know his dad was the Black Panther. He’s never met him, and Nakia is remarried to a Haitian dude. Then, we cut to reality and it’s the night that everybody comes back from the Blip. You see T’Challa meet the kid for the first time.”
A powerful reunion wasn’t the only highlight planned for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Initially, Coogler wanted to jump ahead in time after T’Challa returned from The Blip and met his son. The film would continue with Toussaint being older but still inexperienced. While the duo is away on a trip, T’Challa is called to battle, with no choice but to have Toussaint along for the ride.
“Then it cuts ahead three years and [T’Challa is] essentially co-parenting. We had some crazy scenes in there for Chad, man. Our code name for the movie was ‘Summer Break,’ and the movie was about a summer that the kid spends with his dad,” Coogler said. “For his eighth birthday, they do a ritual where they go out into the bush and have to live off the land. But something happens and T’Challa has to go save the world with his son on his hip. That was the movie.”
I’ve always wondered what Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would have been like if Boseman were still alive. Now I know. What do you think of Coogler’s original plan for the Marvel sequel? Let us know in the comments.