Ryan Coogler says that the original plan for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was to make a "father-son" story, prior to the death of Chadwick Boseman. Speaking with The New York Times, Coogler detailed how the plans changed following Boseman's passing.
“That was the challenge. It was absolutely nothing like what we made,” Coogler said. “It was going to be a father-son story from the perspective of a father, because the first movie had been a father-son story from the perspective of the sons.”
Originally, T’Challa’s son, Toussaint, was going to play a much bigger role in the film. In the final version, fans only learn of his existence during an end credits scene. He also wanted to explore the impact of the "blip" event from Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
“The first scene was an animated sequence. You hear Nakia talking to Toussaint. She says, ‘Tell me what you know about your father.’ You realize that he doesn’t know his dad was the Black Panther. He’s never met him, and Nakia is remarried to a Haitian dude,” Coogler explained. “Then, we cut to reality and it’s the night that everybody comes back from the Blip. You see T’Challa meet the kid for the first time.”
He further reflected: “We had some crazy scenes in there for Chad, man. Our code name for the movie was ‘Summer Break,’ and the movie was about a summer that the kid spends with his dad. For his eighth birthday, they do a ritual where they go out into the bush and have to live off the land. But something happens and T’Challa has to go save the world with his son on his hip. That was the movie.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ended up hitting theaters on November 11, 2022
Boseman passed away in 2020 following a private battle with colon cancer. He was 43 years old.
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