The upcoming (and recently delayed) Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, has had to shut down its production. Actor Letitia Wright, who plays T’Challa’s genius sister Shuri and was previously reported to have a vocal anti-COVID vaccine stance on set, suffered an injury while filming that was pretty severe to warrant everything going into stasis through the remainder of 2021.
In late August while filming in Boston, Wright got hurt shooting a sequence involving a stunt rig. At the time, Marvel Studios said this injury wouldn’t impact production, but well, here we are. Wright has since gone to London to recover, while the production continued to shoot around her character’s absence in the last two months as much as they possibly could. With the hiatus, which will begin on Thanksgiving week and is expected to last through the rest of the year, the plan is to reconfigure the shoot and come back in early 2022.
A representative for Wright said that the actor “has been recovering in London since September from injuries sustained on the set of Black Panther 2 and is looking forward to returning to work early 2022…Letitia kindly asks that you keep her in your prayers.” Since Chadwick Boseman’s passing late last year, it’s been an expectation that the fan-favourite Shuri would be centered as the lead of the franchise going forward and eventually take the mantle of Black Panther, as she previously has in the comics.
Following the news, Marvel insisted the film’s release date shouldn’t be impacted enough to warrant another delay. Directed again by Ryan Coogler, the superhero sequel will both introduce upcoming MCU mainstay Riri Williams (aka Ironheart), played by Dominique Thorne, and is also believed to set up a spinoff series for Danai Guira’s breakout character, Okoye.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is expected to release in theatres on November 11, 2022.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.