Winston Duke Says There's 'No Way They'll Never Remake' 'Black Panther' in the Future

Mar. 15, 2025

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Winston DukeexpectsBlack Panther’s King T’Challa to return eventually.

In a new interview withEsquirepublished Monday, theBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverstar, 36, expressed some frustration with Marvel Cinematic Universe fans who publicly supported for Marvel Studios to recastChadwick Boseman’s character asfirst trailers for the sequel were unveiled in July. (Bosemandied of colon cancer in 2020at age 43.)

Duke told the outlet that some fans “center their own need for a character when none of this would be possible if the people who brought this to life didn’t participate, from behind the scenes to in front of it.”

During the interview, Duke also noted that it is likelyBlack Pantherwill eventually receive a reboot, at which point another actor will take an opportunity to play T’Challa.

“There’s no way they’ll never remakeBlack Pantherin the future,” Duke said. “There’s no way that the saga and interpretation of T’Challa, King of Wakanda, will end.”

“He is canon. So trust that it’ll come,” the actor added. “But allow this to be a human experience.”

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“What’s been powerful here is we’re all going through a lot of loss. I lost my mom recently, two weeks ago,” he said at the screening. “It’s tough.”

Duke says he had a conversation with Taylor Simone Ledward, 31, who married Boseman in 2018, about their shared loss.

“I said to her recently, I can’t say I fully understood what you were going through until today, to fully come close to understanding the grief you are experiencing.”

“You know, we all showed up and participated in starting in the foundation for him at the Smithsonian,” says Duke. “We’re just here for her and we support her. He’s going be with us forever. And she will be.”

In an October interview on theJemele Hill Is Unbotheredpodcast, Duke called the loss of Boseman “something that we have to wrestle with daily on set” as theWakanda Foreverteam unexpectedly embarked on the highly-anticipated sequel without its lead actor.

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“There was a gaping hole when it came to his presence,” the actor revealed on the podcast. “You felt it daily. You felt him not being there.”

“He was a very gentle presence of strength, power, and scope,” Duke said of working with Boseman on the podcast. “You knew he was there, but he didn’t have to say anything. He wasn’t walking around with a big ego… You don’t realize the impact when they’re there.”

“But when they’re not, it’s apparent,” he added. “You feel it intrinsically and that was the experience on set daily for a year.”

Black Panther: Wakanda Foreveris in theaters now.

source: people.com