5 Things We Learned From The ‘Wakanda Forever’ Press Conference

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, one of the year’s most anticipated blockbusters, is finally here.

Black Panther grossed $1.348 billion at the worldwide box office and won three Oscars after being nominated for seven, including an ultimately unsuccessful Best Picture nod. The long-awaited sequel is also expected to do similar business and be one of 2022’s biggest theatrical hits.

Following the death of King T’Challa, immortalized by the late Chadwick Boseman, the kingdom of Wakanda comes under attack from the undersea nation of Tālocān. While still in mourning, their only option is to fight to protect their nation.

Ahead of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever landing in theaters, key cast and crew, including Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Alex Livinalli, the film’s writer-director Ryan Coogler and producers Kevin Feige and Nate Moore gathered in Los Angeles for an invite-only press conference with select press. Here are a few of the highlights.

Picking up the pieces after Chadwick Boseman’s passing

Kevin Feige: The shock turned into, ‘Well, what do we do? What should we do? Should we do anything? I think relatively soon, it was determined that this amazing ensemble of characters and this world that had been created onscreen needed to continue. Ryan pours all of himself into everything he does and had been working on a version of the movie with T’Challa in it for almost a year. He was finding and pouring his life experience from making the first movie into that. When we lost Chad, all of that was poured into this movie as well, keeping the idea of a celebration of Wakanda and the character at the forefront, in addition to the grief that will come with that.

Why Rihanna returned to music and created a track for Wakanda Forever

Ryan Coogler: I can’t take sole credit for that. We have an incredible composer, Ludwig Göransson, who is also a music producer and has a great reputation. He made This is America with Childish Gambino, so I think Ludwig was a major factor. Also, big thanks to Jay Brown at Roc Nation and Jay-Z, who is a friend and helped make the connection. Rihanna has given us a whole career, a whole catalog of music, and now she’s given us make-up and clothing, and I think the world would understand if she hung up her mic. I feel like she’s given us all that you could ask for, but the truth is we were looking for a great artist who could tell the story of the film, embrace the themes, and present them to the audience in a different packaging. That’s what Kendrick did for us so beautifully with the first film. This film is different. It made sense that it would be a woman; it made sense that it could be someone who could speak to, not necessarily the words, but the feeling of motherhood because that’s a significant theme in this film. It came that she was in that space in her life, and she was open. I think that when she saw the performances that everybody was putting down in the trailer, that was what put her over the edge, and she said, ‘Hey, I want to see this film. I want to see if I can figure this out.’ But the truth is, once she played us the record, she said straight up, ‘I did this for Chad.’ It was him, man. Sitting here thinking about it, it is hitting me right now. Chad brought us all together, and he keeps on giving. I’m thankful that Rihanna was the latest gift to join the family. I can’t wait for folks to see how it is used in the film.

The growth of Shuri from Black Panther to Wakanda Forever

Letitia Wright: It was firstly through connecting with Ryan and that heart-to-heart conversation about how we take a step forward because it was so raw when we spoke. It was Ryan talking me through the different characters and how the world would expand a bit but also how we would grow. We all take so much different turns. We meet her in the first film; she is that ray of sunshine. She’s so clothed and protected in royalty and love, proud of her big brother stepping up, following on his father’s legacy, and she just wants to create. I love Shuri in the first one because there was no limit to her. We follow on from that and ask, ‘What does it look like when your heart is broken?’ It was Ryan’s guidance on how do we create a full arc of this human being, of this young woman going through something alongside her fellow family members and Wakandans. The way it was written and the delicacy, the gentleness of how we approached it, we always spoke, we always communicated, at every step of the way, and we were able to bring something that felt real, that felt truthful. I was able to give my heart to it and give Shuri a full arc. Hopefully, people can resonate with that and find healing alongside us.

It took four months to complete filming one of the fight scenes

Alex Livinalli: That was probably the longest scene we shot in the movie. It took four months. We went back to it a couple of times, too. We trained for months, Danai and me. We were in and out just rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing, and for me, it was such a beautiful moment to see from when we started and seeing the progress of how our dance came together. Not only that but just getting to know her as a person helped create a bond when we shot the fight scene. I’m grateful it was with her; I wouldn’t want to mess with her.

Danai Gurira: The stunt work here was a bigger ask, and I’m trying to understand why. We had to find the psychology in it, and you’re working together, so a lot of storytelling has to go into it. I’m one of those people who is, from day one, ‘Show me my fight so I can learn it now,’ and they’re like, ‘Ryan’s got to approve it,’ and I’m like, ‘Ryan, go look at it, ‘and, ‘Come on, guys.’ Watching him work with the astounding fight team and how they came up with it was watching a craft in a whole other way, and then it’s that process, and it was months’ worth of work. The wonderful thing is working with Alex, and the other Tālocāneel was an amazing collaborative process. Some minor issues were going on sometimes, and my shoulder was like, ‘What are you doing to me, man? What are you trying to do here?’ So you’d thank God for astounding physical therapy. I’ve got to give my love and thanks to the women of NeuroSports.

On the women of Wakanda taking center stage in Wakanda Forever

Nate Moore: It was just the right story to tell. These were the characters who were most affected by T’Challa’s passing, and so we focused on the people who were appropriate. It’s not about pushing women forward or holding men back, it’s about telling a story that is organic, and I sometimes think, from the outside, there’s a thought that there are agendas at play. It’s just telling good stories. We are blessed with an amazing cast who breathes life into these characters and makes you want to see what’s happening with them, and not highlighting them would’ve been a disservice to the story. I think the movie’s better for it because if we had to wedge in some new male characters to have that voice, that would’ve seemed more performative than just telling the story we told.

Ryan Coogler: Joe Robert Cole, my co-writer, and I, and Nate were there with us the whole time, so it was a team effort, and this was what made sense to us. I will say that Winston Duke’s character, M’Baku was in this movie more than he was in the first Black Panther. He probably has twice as many scenes as he had in the first one, but Nate’s absolutely right. What we wanted to look at was, when you lose somebody, there’s a blast radius. That’s like a bomb that goes off, and who was the closest to it? That’s what we explored. It wasn’t really about gender directly. It was about who was the most affected.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lands in theaters on Friday, November 11, 2022.