It looks like after a much delayed and testing shoot, principal photography on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has finally wrapped in Puetro Rico, which will probably come as something of a relief to all of those involved in the tricky shoot. While some Marvel movies that due for release in 2023 have already completed or are close to completing filming, the Black Panther sequel has seen multiple issues causing lengthy delays, which in part were responsible for the movie having its release date pushed back as part of Disney’s schedule shake-up last year.
According to posts made on social media by a number of crew members from the film, the shoot, which according to one post by hair stylist Nikki Wright ended up being 117 days instead of the planned 88, has finally completed, allowing, of course, for reshoots some time later.
Following the amazing success of Black Panther back in 2018, director Ryan Coogler set out recapture the magic in the sequel following the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame with the early development of the movie being in full swing when it was revealed that lead actor Chadwick Boseman had sadly passed away. As Boseman’s role of T’Challa was said to be not getting recast, that meant the storyline for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was forced to undergo a number of changes to accommodate loss of its main character. This meant that other characters such as Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Winston Duke’s M’Baku and Danai Gurira’s Okoye took on much different and more prominent roles than they perhaps would have in the first version of the script.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Has Been Plagued by Lengthy Delays
As it turned out, the script rewrites were the least of the movie’s worries, as strict Covid protocols that were in place when filming commenced meant there were a number of times that filming had to stop when members of the cast and crew tested positive for Covid. However, those delays were relatively short in comparison to the complete shutdown that followed in the wake of Letitia Wright sustaining multiple injuries while performing a stunt. Although filming was able to continue for a short while, at the end of last year it was announced that things would be shutting down to allow Wright to fully recover from her injuries.
However, since returning to filming, it hasn’t taken too long to complete principal photography on the movie, which is expected to see the arrival of Namor the Sub-Mariner and a war between Wakanda and Atlantis, although there is currently very little confirmed information about the plot of the film. We do know that Winston Drake will have an expanded role as M’Baku, and most of the original Black Panther cast will be returning for the sequel. There are still a lot of questions surrounding how the movie will deal with the departure of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa from the narrative, and whether Shuri will be the one taking the lead in the franchise, but with other characters such as Riri Williams/Ironheart expected to be part of the movie, there is still a lot of Black Panther’s secrets to be unveiled before the film arrives on Nov. 11, 2022.