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The MCU returned to the big screen after almost two years away this summer via Black Widow. That was followed by Shang-Chi and then Eternals earlier this month. The movies will keep coming thick and fast throughout 2022 with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever one of the biggest upcoming MCU projects in production right now.
Not only is Black Panther 2 a huge undertaking for Marvel and Disney, but its creators also faced an unexpected challenge following the passing of Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Boseman played King T'Challa aka Black Panther in the first movie of the same name as well as other MCU projects, including Captain America: Civil War. While MCU roles have been recast in the past, such as Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as The Hulk, it seems having someone else play T'Challa was never an option.
Marvel vice president Nate Morre revealed on Ringer-Verse that the conversation as to what to do next with Black Panther following Boseman's passing was a short one. “There was a real conversation we had with [Ryan] Coogler about what do we do, and it was a fast conversation,” Moore explained. “It wasn't weeks, it was minutes of discussing how we move this franchise forward without this character because I think we all feel so much of T'Challa on the screen is tied to Chadwick Boseman.”
These comments stemmed from Moore confirming something Marvel had hinted at in the past. That T'Challa's Black Panther will not be recast in the MCU. The last MCU movie Boseman appeared in as T'Challa was Avengers: Endgame. However, he voiced the character on a few more occasions during the debut season of What If. One of the alternate realities saw T'Challa become Star-Lord instead of Black Panther.
Wakanda Forever was one of many MCU movies to have its release date pushed back recently, although it will still launch in 2022 as of right now. There is an outside chance that date needs to be moved again. Filming is currently on hiatus due to Letitia Wright suffering an injury on set. Wright has shared anti-vaxx messages on her now-deleted Twitter account in the past, and if she is unvaccinated she may not be allowed to re-enter the US.