It’s been five years since Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing due to colon cancer, but his legacy will never be forgotten. Three years after the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, director Ryan Coogler offered details of his original script for the sequel to 2018’s superhero outing, before it underwent a complete overhaul.
Speaking to “Happy Sad Confused” podcast host Josh Horowitz amid his ongoing awards season press tour for Sinners, the filmmaker revealed that the original 180-page draft followed an adventure between Boseman’s T’Challa and the character’s eight-year-old son, with Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta in the movie, still established as the big bad.
“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,” he 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 later added that he had reached out to Boseman to read this version of the Black Panther 2 script upon completion, but the actor was too tired to do so. After a heartfelt expression of his relationship with the latter, which he describes as “interesting” and was steeped in mutual respect, the filmmaker divulged that he initially wanted to introduce Kraven the Hunter in the first movie.
“[I] wanted to base it on the Christopher Priest run of Panther, and his run starts with Panther and Kraven in the kitchen,” Coogler said. “That’s the first thing. It’s Ross, Panther, and Kraven fighting in the kitchen.”
The idea was unable to take off, however, as Sony, and not Disney, owns the character.
He continued, “I’m a big Spider-Man fan, especially Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Kraven is in that. He’s also great in the books. I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Sony would ultimately release its own Kraven the Hunter film in 2024, which ended up being a box-office failure with a US$62 million worldwide gross against a US$110 to US$130 million budget. Directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the titular role, it explores Kraven’s relationship with his father and his path to becoming the greatest hunter.
Meanwhile, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hit the silver screen in 2022 as the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In it, the leaders of Wakanda fight to protect their nation in the wake of T’Challa’s death, with his sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, eventually taking over the mantle. A third film is currently in the works.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
