The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth force in the entertainment industry, and it's constantly growing. One of the biggest movies in Phase Four was Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The movie was a beautiful meditation on grief, where Letitia Wright became the protagonist of the franchise. And Wright recently explained why playing Shuri was so difficult for Wakanda Forever.
Black Panther 2 was a big payoff for fans, especially those of us who have watched the Marvel movies in order. Letitia Wright offered a super emotional performance, with audiences watching as Shuri finally worked through the grief for her brother. The 29-year-old actress recently spoke to ComicBook about the challenges that came with that critically acclaimed sequel. In her words:
Actually, it's more challenging to play Shuri. So, in the second film, those are completely different emotions from what she carried in the first film. But it's a different energy than what I usually carry. I am light-hearted and fun. I am. Let me give myself some credit. But maintaining that energy all the time is quite difficult. But I also enjoy getting into the drama of it. Just the deep, somber internal character work you need to do. Actually, you know what? Both are difficult. Everything for an actor is difficult because we always try to, you know, tell the truth and do our best. But yeah, they're both equally challenging.
Sounds about right. While Shuri was largely a comedic presence in Ryan Coogler’s original Black Panther movie, the stakes were far more high for her in Wakanda Forever. The movie opened on T’Challa’s death, and followed as Shuri initially blocked out her feelings before finally processing the grief and trauma.
While the material itself was emotional, filming Black Panther 2 was no doubt grueling for the cast and crew because of their real feelings of grief. The movie honored the life death of Chadwick Boseman, and the performances were likely informed by real-life feelings. Indeed, Lupita Nyong’o even called the process therapeutic, allowing her and others to channel their feelings into art.
In addition to the story of T’Challa, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever also killed off Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda in a gorgeous and tragic way. So it makes sense that Letitia Wright didn’t get much time away from emotionally tolling material. We’ll just have to wait and see when Shuri returns to the MCU, especially since she’s the new Black Panther. I’d assume she’d be part of the ensemble cast of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty but we’ll have to see.
The next Marvel movie hitting theaters is The Marvels on November 10th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
