Black Panther Stars Visited Chadwick Boseman’s Grave. Before filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Michaela Coel and Winston Duke went to Chadwick Boseman’s tomb to “ask his blessing.”
Boseman, who portrayed King T’Challa in the first 2018 movie, passed away from colon cancer at the age of 43 in 2020.
Duke, who portrays M’Baku in the Marvel movies, spoke on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, 4 November, and talked about the process of making the second movie without Boseman.
To put oneself in their circumstances once more, he said, “it was truly just melancholy.” I was happy to rejoin the rest of the cast, but Chadwick left a giant gaping vacuum that was difficult to fill and was very noticeable.
“Visiting his grave to say goodbye formally and ask his blessing was really great to help deal with it because it was such a surprise – none of us knew that he was sick and we were only weeks away from shooting when we heard of his passing.”
He continued: “The movie is deeply about grief and how hard and messy it is, there is no pretty perfect way through it, and you are changed forever by it.”
Coel, who joined the cast for the sequel, added: “For me, visiting the graveside allowed me to not just see Chadwick from a Marvel perspective but to understand this was a friend to this cast and it was a real human loss.”
The highly anticipated sequel to Black Panther has been described as a “powerful” and “beautiful” tribute to Chadwick Boseman as the first reactions to the film rolled in.
Black Panther Stars Visited Chadwick Boseman’s Grave. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is released on Friday 11 November. The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One on Friday at 10.40 pm.
