In the wake of Chadwich Boseman's untimely death in 2020, director Ryan Coogler was left with the heavy-hearted prospect of re-casting the role of T'Challa in his upcoming Marvel film "Wakanda Forever." Amid rumors that Michael B. Jordan or Leticia Wright could potentially assume the role of the Black Panther, the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, recently revealed that his team and the general public still need time to mourn Boseman before Coogler could officially re-cast his replacement.
"The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And [director] Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story,”Feige said. “The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’ And how could the legacy of Chadwick – and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas – continue? That’s what [our film] was all about."
The impact of the T'Challa character resonated so powerfully throughout the African Diaspora that Coogler, Feige and the officials at Marvel decided that they wanted to diversify their content even more. The sequel to Black Panther will feature an aquatic character greatly inspired by Aztec and Mayan culture named Namor, ruler of an underwater kingdom called Talocan. In the comic books, Namor (also known as the Sub-Mariner) often serves as an anti-hero/ally of the Avengers, but in the upcoming live-action movie, he will reportedly appear as one of the main villains. A Mexican-born actor by the name of Tenoch Huerta will portray Namor.
"I’m excited, and I’m so happy to be here,” Huerta said during an interview about the role. “I want to say something really fast about inclusion. I come from the hood and, thanks to inclusion, I’m here. I wouldn’t be here without inclusion. A lot of kids in the hood are here looking at us, dreaming to be here. And they’re going to make it! They’re going to make it!"
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Source: Empire
