Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cast has a new star. Michaela Coel is reportedly the latest addition to the Black Panther sequel, though there’s no word whom she will be playing — and whether she’s even going to be a Wakandan. The 33-year-old London native Coel is best known for the BBC One and HBO series I May Destroy You, which she created, wrote, co-directed, and starred in. At the Emmy nominations announced last week, Coel received nods in all four categories: best limited series, best writing, best direction, and best lead actress.
Variety brings word of Coel’s casting on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, noting that people familiar with the matter told the publication that Coel was seen on set at Atlanta’s Pinewood Studios, where the Black Panther sequel is currently filming. Production on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever began in June. Marvel Studios declined to comment, Variety adds, and no details are available on Coel’s Marvel Cinematic Universe character. This makes Coel the first new known cast member on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Until now, we only had confirmations and reports on those returning. Lupita Nyong’o returns as undercover spy and T’Challa’s former lover Nakia, Danai Gurira is Wakandan special forces Dora Milaje chief Okoye, Martin Freeman as CIA agent Everett K. Ross, Letitia Wright as tech expert and T’Challa’s younger sister Shuri, Winston Duke as Wakandan mountain tribe leader M’Baku, and Angela Bassett as T’Challa and Shuri’s mother Ramonda. Chadwick Boseman’s role as T’Challa/ Black Panther will not be recast, with the sequel refocusing on the rest of Wakanda.
Behind the scenes, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler returns to direct Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, off a screenplay he co-wrote with Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole. Bassett revealed that there have been at least five versions of the script. Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Loki) is set as director of photography on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Marvel Studios president and Marvel’s chief creative officer Kevin Feige is the sole producer. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a production of Marvel Studios, with Disney being the global distributor.
Apart from I May Destroy You, Coel’s other credits include creator, writer and star of E4 and Netflix series Chewing Gum, lead roles in the Netflix musical movie Been So Long, and E4’s sci-fi series The Aliens and BBC Two drama Black Earth Rising, and a minor role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will release July 8, 2022 in cinemas worldwide.
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