Marvel won't digitally recreate Chadwick Boseman in 'Black Panther 2'
Marvel has confirmed that the studio won’t use a digital double for the late Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther 2.
Speaking to Argentine newspaper Clarin, Marvel Studios Executive Vice President Victoria Alonso said that there are no plans to digitally recreate the actor, who passed away last August after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
“No. There is only one Chadwick, and he is not with us. Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we return to history and what we do to honor this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really,” she said.
Alonso, who produced all of Marvel’s superhero films starting with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, said that Boseman “was not only a wonderful human being every day in the five years we spent together, but it also seems to me that as a character what he did elevated us as a company, and has left its moment in history.”
She added, “I know that sometimes two months go by or three months go by in production and you say, well, it was a long time. But it is not a long time, we have to think carefully about what we are going to do, and think about how we are going to honor the franchise.”
Boseman’s co-star Letitia Wright, who played King T'Challa's sister and princess of Wakanda Shiri in the film, previously told Net-a-Porter that it's strange to do a sequel without the actor.
“We’re just still mourning Chad, so it’s not something I even want to think about,” Wright said. “The thought of doing it without him is kinda strange. We’re just grieving at the moment, so it’s trying to find the light in the midst of it.”
Digital recreation is nothing new with Disney. Previously, the studio digitally resurrected Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as well as the late Carrie Fisher as a young Leia in Star Wars: The Rise of the Skywalker.
The sequel to Marvel’s 2018 film was slated to begin production in March 2021 and set to come out in summer 2022 before Boseman’s untimely demise.
(Photos from IMDB)