Daniel Kaluuya Will Not Be in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever due to scheduling conflicts with Jordan Peele’s Nope
Black Panther (2018) actor Daniel Kaluuya has announced that he won’t be returning to the role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). The actor was forced to renounce his role as W’Kabi because of scheduling issues with Jordan Peele’s Nope, according to the announcement, which was shared on Twitter this morning. The late Chadwick Boseman played T’Challa in the 2018 film Marvel’s Black Panther. Wakanda is a secret country with advanced technology that depends on the Black Panther to keep it safe.
T’Challa, who is still in shock at the murder of his father, must balance the responsibilities of being a Black Panther with the country’s choice to open its borders to the outside world and Erik Killmonger’s (Michael B. Jordan) attempts at a takeover. Thankfully, With his mother Ramonda (Angela Basset), sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), ex-lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), and the all-female Dora Milaje team led by Okoye, T’Challa has a group of dependable supporters (Danai Gurira). The head of security for Wakanda’s Border Tribe and another trusted confidant of T’Challa, W’Kabi, made an appearance in the first Black Panther as Daniel Kaluuya.
Although many members of the Black Panther cast, including Basset, Wright, Gurira, Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, and Winston Duke, will be reprising their roles in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Deadline reports that Kaluuya will not be returning as W’Kabi due to scheduling conflicts with his role as OJ Haywood in Nope, a sci-fi horror movie that stars “residents of a lonely gulch in inland California” as they “become Alongside Steven Yeun and Keke Palmer (Alice), Kaluuya will play a leading role (Minari). This morning, the Twitter account for Rotten Tomatoes confirmed that Daniel Kaluuya was leaving Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Daniel Kaluuya won’t be the only cast member who won’t be able to return in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; following Chadwick Boseman’s passing in 2020, Marvel decided not to recast the role of T’Challa, instead moving forward with the Black Panther sequel with the intention of honoring Boseman’s legacy and “exploring other characters from the world of ‘Black Panther,'” according to Variety. It is not yet known what the film’s producers have in mind for W’Kabi’s part or whether they plan to recast it.
On November 11th, 2022, Ryan Coogler’s (Creed) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, starring Letitia Wright and Angela Basset, will be released. It will be released on July 22nd, 2022, and is directed by Jordan Peele (Get Out) and stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun.