Legendary actor Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020, after a long and private battle with colon cancer. Chadwick was 43 years old at the time of his death and was respected immensely in the film industry. He had played many iconic roles till that point in films like“42,” “Get on Up,” “Marshall” and “21 Bridges.”
However, his most famous and most recent legendary performance was in Marvel’s Black Panther where he played the role of T’Challa AKA The Black Panther. Chadwick’s passing left all the fans and the cast of Black Panther in shock.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chadwick’s castmate from Black Panther, Lupita Nyong’o reveals that she did know about Chadwick’s passing until she received a text message from fellow actor and friend Viola Davis.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Nyong’o recalled while talking about receiving the text message, “I was paralyzed. He had an aura. He was the leader, and we were all good with it.”
She further added, “He affected how I move in the world. But that’s the thing about Chadwick. Chadwick wasn’t trying to have everyone be like him. What he inspired was you to be your best self.”
Chadwick’s death had a strong impact on everyone involved in Black Panther. Director of the film Ryan Coogler has recently revealed that he almost considered giving up filmmaking altogether after the passing of Chadwick Boseman.
Out of respect for Chadwick, Marvel head Kevin Feige announced that they would not recast the role of T’Challa and later it was revealed that director Ryan Coogler would incorporate the passing of T’Challa into the script of the next Black Panther film, to symbolize the fact that the character of T’Challa goes to rest with Chadwick Boseman.
In an interview with THR, Coogler said, “He was somebody who was so about the collective. Black Panther, that was his movie. He was hired to play that role before anybody else was even thought of, before I was hired, before any of the actresses were hired. On that set, he was all about everybody else.”
The sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released in cinema’s around the world on the 11th of November.