After Black Panther blew our collective brains when it came out in 2018, director Ryan Coogler is currently continuing the storyline with its sequel Wakanda Forever, currently in production. The movie will notably go on without T’Challa following the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman, but just about everyone else from the Oscar-winning movie is on board to continue the character’s legacy. Lupita Nyong’o has been filming Wakanda Forever since summer and is now taking some time to explore the sights around its main location in Atlanta. She’s in Tennessee and has been warmly welcomed by fellow actress Reese Witherspoon!
Lupita Nyong’o recently shared her travels to Chattanooga, Tennessee with her sister Fiona over on Instagram. The sisters look like they took some time to enjoy the sites in between Black Panther 2 shooting primarily just two hours away in Atlanta, Georgia. Take a look:
Lupita Nyong’o shared pictures hanging out at the Walnut Street Bridge, checking out the Tennessee Aquarium and what looks to be a hike through the Rock City Gardens. As the Oscar winner showed off her vacation, Reese Witherspoon took to the comment section to say this:
Welcome to my home state of Tennessee!!
Reese Witherspoon was raised in Nashville and likely knows many of these sites like the back of her hand. Reese and Lupita have yet to work together on a movie, but the actress seemed proud to see the 12 Years A Slave actress on the soil where she grew up enjoying some sightseeing. Nyong’o, on the other hand, was born in Mexico before moving back to Nairobi, Kenya with her Kenyan parents as a baby.
Along with Lupita Nyong’o returning to Wakanda for the Black Panther sequel as Nakia, her Us co-star Winston Duke will reprise his role as M’Baku, and we'll also reunite with Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda, Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross, Daniel Kaluuya’s W’Kabi and Florence Kasumba’s Ayo. May I Destroy You’s Michaela Coel has also joined the movie in an undisclosed role, and the movie is set to introduce Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart into the MCU.
The Black Panther sequel was originally imagined much differently when Chadwick Boseman was with us, but since the actor’s death, Ryan Coogler and the Marvel team have reworked the story somehow to continue the story of Wakanda without its king. The movie is expected to come to theaters in less than a year, on July 8, 2022 following an upcoming round of sequels for Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Thor.
Along with Lupita Nyong’o’s work with Marvel, she’ll star in an action thriller at the top of 2022 called The 355. That movie also stars Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz and Sebastian Stan, and is about international agents who come together to retrieve a dangerous weapon. It’s great to see the actress taking some time to enjoy the South in between her work on Black Panther.
