Black Panther: Wakanda Forever brings out a number of characters in the wake of T’Challa’s death, with Letitia Wright’s Suri being one of them
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has a lot on its shoulders, not only as the sequel to one of Marvel’s most successful solo superhero films, but as the closing film of the MCU’s Phase Four and as a throwback to late star Chadwick Boseman. There’s little doubt that Boseman’s passing had a huge impact on the sequel’s story, leading to Letitia Wright‘s Suri takes a step up from her original Black Panther role to solve many of Wakanda’s problems in the new film.
Letitia Wright has clearly plunged into the role she first played Black Panther, to the point where she suffered a serious injury while filming last year. As reported by SlashFilm, the actress recently told a news conference that she believes the circumstances have led her character to have a fully realized storyline. She said:
“We meet her in that first movie, and she’s that ray of sunshine. She’s so dressed and protected in royalty and love and proud of her big brother taking this step and following his father’s legacy. She just wants to create. I love from Shuri in the first because there was no limit for her either. She was the person her brother went to for his protection, his armor. He encouraged that. Her family encouraged her to be a genius and to to be made fearful and wonderful.
“So we’re going to continue on that” [in the sequel]. What does it look like when your heart is broken? I think it was Ryan’s advice on ‘How do we create a full arc of this human, of this young woman going through something alongside her fellow relatives and General and Wakandans?’ […] We were able to bring something that felt real, that felt real, and I was able to bring my heart to it and give Shuri a full arc, and hopefully people can resonate with that and find healing with it next to us.
How does Wakanda forever target female characters?
Black Panther was T’Challa’s story and showed the Black Panther being challenged as the king of Wakanda. While these challenges came from other male characters, but in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, sees T’Challa’s death shift the focus to those left behind who were close to him. This means that more attention is paid to the females that surround him, including his family. Ryan Coogler recently said of the focus change:
“It was just the right story to tell. These were the characters most affected by T’Challa’s passing, so we focused on the people who were suitable. It’s not about pushing women forward or holding back men; it’s about telling the story that’s organic. Sometimes I think, maybe from the outside, that there are agendas involved. But it just tells good stories, and we’re blessed with a great cast that breathe life into these characters and you want to see what happens to Shuri or what happens to Okoye or what happens to Lupita or what happened to Ramonda. If I didn’t emphasize them, the story would have been a disservice, which is why I think the movies are better for it. If we had to put in a few new male characters to have that voice, it would have been more performative than just telling the story we were telling.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.