Being rejected for the part of Shuri worked out well in the long run for ‘Black Panther 2’ star

The first full trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which just dropped today, did practically everything we could want it to do, from offering loads more of Tenoch Huerta’s Namor to our first glimpse at the new Black Panther. What’s more, it likewise offered a tease at Ironheart in action. For those who need a reminder, Ironheart aka Riri Williams is a new teen heroine who’ll prove to be of huge importance to the MCU going forward.

And for actress Dominique Thorne, landing the role has been an education in learning that sometimes rejection can be good thing. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Thorne revealed that, years prior to being hired as the successor to Tony Stark’s legacy, she was rejected for the part of Shuri in the first Black Panther, although the studio told her they looked forward to hiring her at a later date.

The now-25 year old star admitted that she was cynical about the feedback at the time, but it turned out Marvel was on the level. As she told ET:

“They said, ‘We’d love to work with you in the future, but you just don’t have enough experience right now,. At the time, I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, okay. That’s what you tell everybody, isn’t it?’ But I guess they meant what they said.”

Of course, Shuri was ultimately played by Letitia Wright and, despite the unfortunate bad press that has circled Wright over the past couple of years, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in that role, so they probably made the right choice in refusing Thorne for the part. While we’ve yet to actually get a good look at her as Riri, no doubt she turn out to be the perfect person to bring Ironheart to life instead.

Dominique Thorne enters the MCU, at last, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, coming Nov. 11, while her very own Ironheart TV series follows in late 2023.