IN AN interview with Variety, Letitia Wright, who stars as Shuri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever revealed that the original Black Panther 2 script was around 300 pages long, which would have made its run time around five hours.
“I remember just hearing through the grapevine that even though Chadwick [Boseman] was really unwell, he was making fun of how long it was,“ Wright told Variety. “That’s Ryan’s process; he puts everything on the page, he sends it off to Chad, and they sit and discuss.”
Director and writer Ryan Coogler was in the midst of drafting the original script in August 2020 when Black Panther lead Boseman died at 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.
After the news, Coogler wrote in remembrance: “I spent the last year preparing, imagining and writing words for him to say, that we weren’t destined to see.”
As Boseman was mourned, Coogler went on to work with co-writer Joe Robert Cole to draft a new story.
In an interview with Inverse, Coogler revealed that the original script was meant to explore T’Challa’s grieving the five years he had lost following the Blip in Avengers: Endgame.
While the plot and protagonist changed, there are still elements of Wakanda Forever left from Coogler’s original script. Namor the Sub-mariner, played by Tenoch Huerta, “was always the antagonist.”
In the new script, the movie arc centred on T’Challa’s family and how they dealt with his passing from an unexplained illness. According to Coogler, Boseman’s family had regular feedback while they were rewriting the sequel.
In an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone, Cole stated he’s yet to have talks about the possible release of the script.
“I’m not sure. But I’m really proud of what we’ve put out and how we’ve honoured Chad. I feel like the film speaks for itself.”
Despite the script changes, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was a huge success. Since the theatrical release of the sequel on Nov 10 throughout North America, it earned US$546 million (RM2.5 billion) worldwide, surpassing Black Adam to become the highest-grossing movies of 2022.
