Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico) has reportedly boarded the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for Disney and Marvel Studios. At this time, there isn't much known about the story of the upcoming superhero sequel, other than that it will bring back several main stars from the original movie alongside writer-director Ryan Coogler. On Monday, a new report via The Illuminerdi purports that Huerta has been cast as Namor the Sub-Mariner. This follows previous reports that Huerta was in talks to play an unnamed antagonist in the movie.

Recently, it was reported at POC Culture that Black Panther 2 was looking to cast two Mayan characters, a woman named Zyanya and a man named Cadmael. The Illuminerdi adds that the two characters' names are code for Marvel characters connected to Namor. Zyanya is said to be a codename for Namora, Namor's cousin, while Cadmael is code for Attuma, an Atlantean warlord. This information has not yet been confirmed by the studio.

It would make sense for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to mark the debut of Namor the Sub-Mariner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. T'Challa and Namor previously met in Marvel Comics lore when Namor's superhero team the Invaders traveled to Wakanda. Though T'Challa and Namor butted heads, the duo would also partner up to take on common enemies during their time together. Namor has since been described as the first comic book "antihero."

Sadly, T'Challa won't be in the Black Panther sequel, as Chadwick Boseman passed away last year. It has since been confirmed that he won't be digitally added into the movie with CGI, nor will the role be recast with another actor. It is expected that another character will take on the Black Panther mantle in honor of T'Challa in the sequel, but no plot details have been revealed. Letitia Wright's Shuri is the rumored favorite to succeed T'Challa in that role.

Ryan Coogler is back to write and direct Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Along with Wright coming back as Shuri, the sequel also will see the returns of Danai Gurira (Okoye), Angela Bassett (Ramonda), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), and Winston Duke (M'Baku). It's also been reported that Gurira will similarly be reprising the role of Okoye for a prequel origin story series on Disney+, and it's not clear if there will be any other stars from Black Panther that will appear in that series.

"It's very difficult to have perspective on something while you're going through it," Coogler previously said this year about moving forward with Black Panther 2 without Boseman. "This is one of the most profound things I've ever gone through in my life, having to be a part of keeping this project going without this particular person."

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 8, 2022. Meanwhile, Tenoch Huerta can next be seen in a lead role in the upcoming sequel The Forever Purge, which is set to be released on July 2, 2021. The fifth and final installment of the Purge series, the movie is directed by Everardo Gout and also stars Ana de le Reguera, Josh Lucas, Will Patton, and Cassidy Freeman. The update of Huerta signing on to play Namor in Black Panther 2 was published by The Illuminerdi.