Home ›› 16 Jan 2022 ›› Show Biz
After a major on-set COVID-19 outbreak and injury, the makers of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ are all set to restart the production next week. Actor Letitia Wright has healed and will be back to reprise her fan-favourite character Shuri for the Marvel mega sequel, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Production was initially to have restarted last Monday but was delayed thanks to several cast and crew, Lupita Nyong’o among them, testing positive for COVID-19. Shooting is due to resume in Atlanta next week on the Ryan Coogler-directed picture for what sources say will be about four weeks.
Last August, Wright suffered an injury while filming a sequence involving a stunt rig on-location in Boston. Production then shut down in late November after the ‘Wakanda Forever’ team filmed as much as they could without Wright, while she continued to heal at her home in London.
Eyes were on Wright, a British citizen, because she had expressed anti-COVID vaccine sentiments.
Wright’s agent also did not comment, only telling The Hollywood Reporter, “She always intended to return but just needed to wait until she had fully recovered.”
Separately, sources say Winston Duke, who plays M’Baku, negotiated a hefty raise for his return to Black Panther due to what is being described as an expanded role in the Panther mythos. What that expansion looks like is unclear.
Insiders say the restart is not expected to impact the movie’s release date, which is currently November 11, 2022. It had already been moved once before, from July 8, 2022.
‘Wakanda Forever’ has trudged a rocky path so far. Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer in August 2020, with Marvel and the filmmakers having to reconceive the project without the beloved actor. Wright, who became a breakout star in 2018 thanks to her work as Shuri, the sister of Black Panther T’Challa, was elevated to the lead of the sequel. It is unclear if that elevated status will continue beyond this sequel into future movies or Disney+ series.
