Ryan Coogler and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige have offered fresh, personal recollections of Chadwick Boseman’s final years and the toll his death took on the Black Panther creative team, in remarks made during a recent conversation at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Speaking at the dedication of USC’s Kevin Feige Division of Film & Television Production, Feige said he last met with Boseman alongside other Marvel executives shortly before the actor died in 2020. Feige revealed Boseman was thrilled about having voiced T’Challa on the animated series What If… and had hoped to “bring that spirit” into a second Black Panther movie. “We will be back in there — that was always my expectation,” Feige said, recounting how Marvel’s perpetual slate led him to assume there would always be a next opportunity to reconnect. “That hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized that there wasn’t going to be a next time,” he added, underscoring the shock and regret that followed Boseman’s sudden passing.
Coogler, who directed Black Panther (2018) and returned to helm 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, echoed the sense of loss and uniqueness surrounding Boseman’s performance as T’Challa. “There was only one Chad, bro,” Coogler said, as he described Boseman’s singular presence and how the role seemed made for him. Coogler also recalled a visit from Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger to his apartment days after Boseman’s death, while much of Los Angeles was still under COVID-19 lockdown. He emphasized that their visit was focused on his well-being rather than immediate franchise decisions. “It wasn’t, ‘Hey, what are we going to do about this franchise?’ It was about, ‘Hey, are you okay? How are you taking it?’” he said.
Those personal interventions, Coogler said, stayed with him because they revealed “the humanity beyond the corporate things and the financial responsibilities.” The director also reiterated a revelation he made in 2022 — that he had seriously considered walking away from filmmaking after Boseman’s death. “I didn’t know if I could make another movie, period, [let alone] another Black Panther movie,” Coogler told Entertainment Weekly in 2022, explaining the emotional barriers he faced in opening himself to future work.
Coogler ultimately returned to complete Wakanda Forever as a tribute to Boseman and the character he inhabited, a production that confronted the challenge of continuing a beloved franchise without its central star. He recently paid homage to Boseman at the late actor’s Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony in November, calling him “a star deserving of a star on the Walk of Fame, but… our most incredible jewel,” and thanking Boseman for reflecting and revealing “the greatness of our people, and the universe of our shared humanity.”
The colleagues’ remarks at USC add new detail to the public record about Boseman’s final creative intentions and the immediate aftermath of his death: Feige’s disclosure that Boseman hoped to carry the animated T’Challa’s energy into a sequel, and Coogler’s account of studio leaders prioritising his emotional state over business planning. Those memories reinforce how Boseman’s loss reshaped both the personal lives of collaborators and the creative direction of one of Marvel’s flagship properties.
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