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Oscar winner and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya not returning for Black Panther 2-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
The actor portrayed W’Kabi in the first movie.
Daniel played W’Kabi in the first movie (Picture: Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios)
Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya will not be reprising his role in Black Panther 2, it’s been reported.
The sequel to the 2018 film, starring the late Chadwick Boseman in the lead role of T’Challa, has been slated for a 2022 release.
Titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the movie will see the return of actors including Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M’Baku and Angela Bassett as Ramonda.
However, Daniel – who won an Oscar for Judas and the Black Messiah in 2021 – will not be among them, having previously played W’Kabi, T’Challa’s close friend who was in a relationship with Okoye.
Sources close to the sequel claimed that Daniel was asked to come back, but he was already committed to working on Get Out director Jordan Peele’s latest project Nope, Variety reported.
The news was first tweeted by Jacqueline Coley of Rotten Tomatoes, who wrote: ‘Fresh from my Nope interview with Daniel Kaluuya he did not reprise his role in #BlackPanther2 due to his schedule conflicts w/ #Nope! It’s official he’s not in #BlackPantherWakandaForever.’
The actor couldn’t return due to another filming commitment, it’s been reported (Picture by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for BAFTA LA)
Following Chadwick’s death in 2020 at the age of 43 after being diagnosed with colon cancer, Lupita said that Black Panther 2 would honour the late actor.
‘People will ask me, “Are you excited to go back?” Excitement isn’t the word,’ she said during an interview conducted last year.
‘I feel like I’m in a very pensive and meditative state when it comes to Black Panther 2. [Chadwick’s] passing is still extremely raw for me. And I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to step on set and not have him there.’
W’Kabi was a confidante to T’Challa (Picture: Marvel Studios)
Explaining that director Ryan Coogler has made alterations to the film to pay tribute to Chadwick, she added: ‘So it feels spiritually and emotionally correct to do this.
‘And hopefully, what I do look forward to, is getting back together and honoring what he started with us and holding his light through it.’
Chadwick has been remembered for his immense talent and kind heart (Picture: Marvel/Disney/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
Yesterday when the nominations for the 2022 Emmy Awards were announced, it was revealed that Chadwick earned a posthumous nod for her voice-acting performance in the Marvel animated series What If…?, which premiered last year.
The Get On Up star voiced multiple different versions of T’Challa for the show, including one that imagined what would have happened if he’d been abducted by the Ravagers as a child and grown up to become Star-Lord.
In a post shared on his official Twitter account, a statement read: ‘What an incredible honor! Thank you to the @televisionacad for Chad’s posthumous #Emmys nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over for his roll in as T’Challa in the animated series #Whatif…? from @DisneyPlus and @MarvelStudios.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Daniel’s representatives for comment.
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