Naturally, there be spoilers ahoy for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever from here on out.
The opening and closing scenes of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever have been leaving patrons bawling in the aisles, with the bookending moments of the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel paying a moving tribute to Chadwick Boseman.
The beginning sees the nation of Wakanda hold a funeral for its dearly departed king, while the mid-credits stinger reveals that he and Nakia had a child that’s been squirreled away in Haiti his entire life in order to avoid the constant pressure of being next in line to the throne.
It’s a moving moment, one that could be paid of in a major way should Black Panther 3 hypothetically feature a time jump that would see Toussaint/T’Challa heading home to take his rightful place, which would neatly bookend the entire saga by having the same bloodline sitting on the most important seat.
You may have thought that the scene was added as a way to pay tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, but producer Nate Moore revealed in an interview with Collider that the son of T’Challa was part of a draft that existed before the actor’s untimely death when asked how it came together.
“Pretty early on. That was always the end of the movie pretty, much since Chad’s passing. I think the first draft we got had that in there, and the notion of the character introduced in that scene actually predated Chad’s passing, to be quite honest. We always like the idea that… Yeah. But it was repurposed thematically once Chad passed, and hopefully feels like renewal after a time of adversity.”
It sounds as though the plan was always for T’Challa and Nakia to become parents, but it hits dramatically harder knowing that we’ll never see Boseman on our screens again. As it stands, it’s a near-perfect conclusion to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which ends with a ray of light after focusing on so much darkness among the cast of characters.
