Ryan Coogler Details ‘Black Panther 2’ Script Before Boseman’s Death

Ryan Coogler appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast amid his ongoing awards season press tour for “Sinners” and revealed the original story plans for “Black Panther 2.” The director was well into development on the sequel to his Oscar-winning 2018 blockbuster when lead actor Chadwick Boseman died in August 2020 from colon cancer. Boseman’s tragic passing forced Coogler to completely overhaul the sequel into what would become 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Marvel fans wondering what Coogler originally planned for Boseman’s return finally have an answer as Coogler told “Happy Sad Confused” podcast host Josh Horowitz that his original “Black Panther 2” script focused on an adventure between Boseman’s T’Challa and the character’s 8-year-old son. Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta in “Wakanda Forever,” was still the main villain.

“The big thing with the script was a thing called the Ritual of 8 where a prince is 8 years old, he must spend 8 days in the bush with his father,” Coogler said. “The rule is for those 8 days the prince can ask the father any question and the father must answer. In the course of those 8 days, Namor launches an attack… he had to deal with someone who’s insanely dangerous but because of this ritual, his son had to be joined at his hip the whole time or else they’d violate this ritual that had never been broken. It was insane. Chadwick was going to kill it, but life goes as it goes.”

Coogler confirmed that he finished this version of the “Black Panther 2” script and reached out to Boseman to read it, but “he was too sick” to do so.

“He was at a place where it wasn’t going to happen,” the director added. “Our relationship was very interesting. He meant a lot of me but I found out after his passing from his family and his friends about how much I meant to him. That fucked me up pretty good. I wonder if he knew how much he meant to…