‘Black Panther 2’ is worthy of Chadwick Boseman, Letitia Wright says

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” star Letitia Wright said the upcoming sequel will pay tribute to the first film’s star, the late actor Chadwick Boseman, by sticking to the script.

“We honored him by committing ourselves to this story that he started, the legacy he started with this franchise,” the 28-year-old actress told Variety on Sunday at a Cannes Film Festival dinner sponsored by Kering’s Women in Motion program. “We just committed every day to working hard no matter what circumstances we faced. And we faced a lot of circumstances!”

Boseman, who unexpectedly died in August 2020 at age 43 after a battle with colon cancer, portrayed T’Challa, the monarch of a fictional African country called Wakanda who moonlights as Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“It is an incredible honor for Chadwick Boseman — it’s jam-packed with exciting stuff,” the British starlet said, adding that the sequel’s cast and crew faced “a lot of difficult situations, but we came together as a team and we poured everything into this movie, so I’m excited for you to see it.”

Those “situations” could include reports that surfaced in October 2021 when the “Death on the Nile” star allegedly pushed anti-vaccination views on the set of the “Black Panther” sequel amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the wake of sharing her views, she parted ways with her US representatives.

While Wright didn’t address her current vaccination stance, she did say she was generally standing by her beliefs when she was asked whether she had learned anything over the course of the pandemic.

“I’ve learned that, in life, you just have to keep going strong with what you believe in, in terms of your talent, in terms of your desire to impact the world with your art, and that’s exactly what I’m doing and I’m so proud of myself and the movie that’s coming out this year,” the MCU superhero said. “I’m so proud of it.”

Production on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was also temporarily shut down last fall to give Wright time to recover from an on-set injury. She had been hospitalized the previous August for minor injuries after a stunt went wrong on set in Boston.

The second “Black Panther” installment was originally set to premiere on July 8 but its release has been pushed to Nov. 11.