On Saturday, Marvel’s presentation at the San Diego Comic-Con revealed the trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the first sequel to the Black Panther series after the passing of the late Chadwick Boseman.
The unveiling was headed by Ryan Coogler, the writer and director, and producer Kevin Feige. Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, said in an interview that the continuation of the plot is a means to honor Boseman – her older brother, T’Challa, in the cinematic universe.
The emotional trailer begins by throwing the audience into the film’s central conflict: the rise of Atlantis, with new costar Tenoch Huerto playing Namor the Sub-Mariner. The trailer shows stunning visuals of Atlantean warriors on whales and deep sea fights off Wakandan cliff edges.
The trailer suggests the fictional nation of Wakanda carries on after the passing of T’Challa, the late Boseman’s star role in previous films. Angela Bassett returns as Ramonda, the mother monarch, and Danai Guirira and Lupita Nyong’o return as Dora Milaje leader Okoye and T’Challa’s love interest Nakia, respectively.
After the premiere, Coogler spoke about continuing the series after Boseman’s passing.
“It’s going to be hard to follow that up, but we’ll try,” Coogler said. “It’s been five years since I was here. I sat about there, and we premiered the first footage from ‘Black Panther 1,’ and sitting next to me was our T’Challa, the late great Chadwick Boseman.”
He continued to say the sequel would “[go] to new places in Wakanda that we haven’t seen before, and it goes to new places in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
He said that he could feel Boseman right beside him during the emotional showing of the first look.
“I promise you, I can feel his hand on me right now,” he said with a smile.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to premiere on November 11 in theaters. It’s unconfirmed when it will be released on Disney+.
