When Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away last week after a battle with colon cancer, a lot of people wondered what this meant for Black Panther 2. Many others, though, felt this was insensitive to bring up and instead thought that we should respect the loss of such a great talent at such a young age before we start thinking about a movie. It seems that Disney actually agrees with this line of thinking, too.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources say that the studio is just as much in mourning over Boseman’s death as anyone. At this stage, the bosses are not yet thinking about the upcoming MCU sequel and instead are focusing their energies on how best to pay tribute to the 43-year-old actor. It’s noted that no one at Disney or Marvel knew about Boseman’s four-year battle with the illness, either, as he had told only a small handful of non-family members of his situation.
While Disney is respectfully pausing any work on Black Panther 2 at present, the studio is still well aware of the difficult challenge ahead of them. As THR puts it, Disney is currently “processing… the economic realities of forging ahead with a billion-dollar franchise without its titular star.” As fans may have suspected, the outlet confirms that there were plans for T’Challa to appear in various other films in the franchise, so his loss will impact the entire MCU.
Black Panther 2 was supposed to enter pre-production this very month, ahead of shooting beginning next March. Boseman hadn’t informed anyone involved with the project of his cancer, either, as he was so convinced that he would make it through. As writer/director Ryan Coogler said in his heartbreaking response to his star’s death, “I spent the last year preparing, imagining and writing words for him to say, that we weren’t destined to see.”
RIP Chadwick Boseman, you will be missed.
Published: Sep 2, 2020 01:27 pm