‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ star shot a deleted scene with a pivotal new character

Warning: Spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to follow.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been making glamorous rounds with critics while running circles around the box office, and you can almost hear a sigh of relief from the Marvel Studios collective upon realizing that the worst-received phase of the MCU still managed to end on a high note. As we all look ahead to what sounds like a heavily-tuned remainder of the Multiverse Saga, here’s hoping that Wakanda Forever‘s momentum will be carried forward.

Most all Marvel films bear an ensemble cast of some sort, but the Black Panther sequel effectively redefined the sense of an MCU ensemble, boasting a number of fantastic performances that one could count on two hands. And the crown jewel of this collective masterclass was Angela Bassett, whose performance as Sovereign Queen Mother Ramonda has gone as far as to spark up some Oscars whispers.

Not all of her scenes made the cut, unfortunately, but for Bassett, some of them were absolutely necessary concessions. In an interview with Variety, the actress revealed that she filmed a scene with the young actor Divine Love Konadu-Sun, who portrayed Nakia and T’Challa’s son, also named T’Challa, in Wakanda Forever‘s heart-squeezing mid-credits scene.

“I filmed a scene, What does Ramonda say? Oh, ‘Shuri, there’s something that I need to tell you.’ I went to Haiti, of course. I met him, I was introduced to him. [It was cut] to make it a surprise for the audience and to Shuri. It was the right way to go. Perfect to go about it.”

The scene saw Ramonda get introduced to T’Challa as his “Nanna,” and was ultimately cut to make the mid-credits scene, which introduced T’Challa, have a much more palpable emotional weight, so it’s for the best that it ended up being excised from the theatrical release.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently playing in theaters.