#Black Panther 2 Has Some Very Odd Story Beats According to Star Martin Freeman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Martin Freeman has discussed his role in the upcoming sequel, and he hopes that they can do Chadwick Boseman’s legacy some justice. Boseman, who played T’Challa, aka Black Panther, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe passed away last year. The actor had been battling colon cancer, something few people knew about. His passing came as a shock and there is simply no replacing him. But Marvel is moving forward with a sequel and Freeman is reprising his role as Everett K. Ross. Though, Freeman admits some of the story beats in the upcoming sequel are ‘very odd’.

Martin Freeman recently appeared as a guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Naturally, the subject of Black Panther 2 came up. Freeman couldn’t dive into specifics but he did explain how it came to be in the aftermath of Chadwick Boseman’s passing, and their hope of honoring the late actor. Here’s what he had to say about it.
RELATED: Black Panther 2 Will Further Explore the World of Wakanda and Its Ensemble of Characters

“It’s a very strange thing. When Chadwick passed last year, after the initial shock of that, it was an appalling thing to find out, The next thing was, ‘Well, I guess that film can’t happen.’ Marvel came to us reasonably shortly afterwards and said, ‘Look, obviously this is a dreadful thing but we’re going to go on.’ That was the plan from a while ago. Obviously, the hope is we do the first film justice and we do Chadwick’s legacy on it justice and make hopefully another good film.”

Marvel has firmly stated that they will not recast the role of T’Challa. Rather, someone else is poised to take up the mantle. Though it hasn’t yet been revealed who that will be. Speaking further, Martin Freeman said that he hopes “people are gonna be in for a treat.” Though he did add, “we’ve not done it yet, who knows, we might make it awful, but I’m hoping we won’t,” As for Ross’ return, Freeman had this to say about his recent conversation with returning director Ryan Coogler.

“I had a Zoom call with Ryan Coogler, the director and co-writer about seven or eight weeks ago, I suppose. He sort of meticulously took me through all of my character’s beats in the film. He took me through the film, but incorporating my character’s beats. Some of it was very odd, and I think he could see from the reaction on my face to some of the things he was saying [laughs]. He kept sort of stopping, and he kept going, ‘Stay with me, but this is going to work.'”

Plot details for the sequel remain largely under wraps for the time being. Marvel Studios recently revealed a brief synopsis, which promises that we will further explore the world of Wakanda and the characters introduced in the first movie. For now, it remains unclear who the main villain will be. Though rumors have pointed to Namor making his MCU debut.

Filming is expected to begin this summer, so we could be learning more details in the coming months. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further details are made available. You can check out the full interview clip from The Late Late Show YouTube channel.

Topics: Black Panther 2, Black Panther