Of Course, Danai Gurira’s Okoye Is Returning For Black Panther 2

Danai Gurira as Okoye in Black Panther

San Diego Comic-Con revealed a lot of great information about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the entirety of Phase Four. However, one movie conspicuous by its absence in that phase was the sequel to Black Panther. The movie got name dropped near the end of the presentation, so it is confirmed to be happening, but that's as far as things go.

We know that Ryan Coogler is back to write and direct the film. It's a pretty safe bet that Chadwick Boseman will be back in the title role. Beyond that, the rest is pretty nebulous as far as what has been confirmed. Recently, Danai Gurira, who played Okoye in the first Black Panther, was asked about her thoughts on the forthcoming sequel. The actress claimed to know literally nothing about what was to come, but she was at least able to confirm that she will be in the movie. Gurira said...

Listen, listen... literally, I have no information, that’s the beauty of our conversation right now. Mr. Coogler says, ‘Tell them we’re working hard, and you’re in it.’ That’s all I got for you.

Okoye was a great character in the first Black Panther who also had a not insignificant role in the massive Infinity War/Endgame double feature, so not having her in a Black Panther sequel would have been a real loss, but luckily we won't need to worry about that.

Part of the reason that Danai Gurira doesn't know anything about Black Panther 2 is that, at this point, there isn't much to know. According to Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige, Ryan Coogler is only now beginning to outline the story, so nothing about the film has been finalized.

This fact came out when Feige shot down the rumor that Michael B. Jordan would be returning for the sequel, despite the fact that his character Killmonger died in the first movie. While it might technically be possible for such a thing to happen, because comics, no decision has been made in that regard.

For her part, while Danai Gurira tells MTV she has no idea if Jordan will be back, she certainly understands the desire to have him return. To some degree, she appears to share the sentiment.

We all love Michael, we can never get enough Michael B. I mean, you can never get enough Michael B, we all know this.

The fact that people are still interested in the idea of Michael B. Jordan returning, even with the odds looking so low, shows just how popular the Marvel villain was. Andy Serkis' Klaue died too, but nobody is hoping he survived.

With Black Panther 2 being more than two years away, based simply on the fact that it wasn't given a date at SDCC, there's a lot of time before anything about this movie will be set in stone. Still, based on the way the first movie exploded in popularity, there are a lot of people looking forward to this one.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.