There has been a lot of discussion over Chadwick Boseman's role of T’Challa in Black Panther should be recast after his death in August of 2020 following a private battle with colon cancer.
Chadwick's brother Derrick has weighed in on the conversation, as he told TMZ that he thinks his brother would want the role recast because he knows how important T'Challa is to young children. Derrick believes that Marvel letting the T'Challa character go would mean that a strong role model would also be going away.
This comes after Nate Moore, Marvel's VP of Development, told the Ringer-Verse podcast that they have no plans on recasting the role of T'Challa following Chadwick's death.
Last month, Moore stated, "We couldn’t do it. I will say, when Chad passed, it was a real conversation we had with Coogler about 'what do we do?' And it was a fast conversation. It wasn't weeks, it was minutes of, 'We have to figure out how to move this franchise on without that character.'"
Ryan Coogler, who directed Black Panther, also has spoken about plans to recast the role, "So as hard as it is narratively to figure out what to do because that’s a big hole, at no point did we consider recasting him. So the challenge for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is telling a story without T’Challa."
There is also a petition on change.org that is close to reaching its goal of 45,000 signatures in an attempt to get the attention of the higher-ups involved with the franchise. The organizer of the petition, E-Man’s Movie Reviews, spoke about the motivation to raise awareness.
"This is a call for the President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, Co-President Louis D’Esposito, and Writer/Director Ryan Coogler to reconsider their decision, and recast the role of ‘T’Challa’ in the Black Panther franchise. If Marvel Studios removes T’Challa, it would be at the expense of the audiences (especially Black boys and men) who saw themselves in him. That also includes the millions of fans who were inspired by the character as well."
Source: TMZ
