Ryan Coogler has revealed that his late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was "too sick" to read the script for the sequel.
The Black Panther writer-director had written a 180-page draft for the sequel when his lead actor passed away in August 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer at the age of 43.
Boseman's tragic death forced Coogler to completely overhaul the sequel, which was eventually titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and released in 2022.
During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Sinners filmmaker revealed that his leading man never got a chance to read his original vision for the follow-up.
"I finished it, and I hit him up to read it, and he was too sick to read, bro. That was kind of how the timing was," he shared. "He was at a place where it wasn't going to happen."
Coogler then divulged details about the original story, revealing that it would have followed Boseman's T'Challa/Black Panther and his eight-year-old son as they take part in the Ritual of Eight, where they spend eight days together in the bush without tools. During this ritual, they are attacked by "a different version of Namor", the main villain in Wakanda Forever.
"It was insane, and Chadwick was going to kill it, but life goes as it goes," he added. "I loved that script. I put so much into that version of the movie because I felt like I had gotten to know Chadwick as a performer... I threw a lot at Chad in the first Panther, but I realised I was just scratching the surface."
However, the Fruitvale Station director is proud that he ultimately made a movie about women while nursing a "broken heart". The sequel focused on T'Challa's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) grappling with grief and taking up the mantle of Black Panther.
Coogler is now gearing up to make a third Black Panther movie, a project he has "a burning desire" to do next.
"I got this movie on my heart," he explained. "And yeah, from the outside looking in, you might say, 'Man, why this f**king dude making another one of those?' But that's totally fine, that question makes sense. And it's my job as a filmmaker to show why."
Denzel Washington is the only confirmed cast member for Black Panther 3 so far. His role has not been specified.
