Reisha Shetty Junior Digital Writer

Marvel fans around the world are eagerly waiting for the release of the highly-anticipated sequel of the hit movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, set to release in November this year. The powerful roles of Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, and Letitia Wright have had a huge impact on the black audiences and have inspired young girls around the to believe in their dreams and themselves.

Recently, during an interview with The New York Times, Bassett, Gurira, Nyong’o, and Wright came together to talk about the impact they’ve made around the world as well as resuming filming after the loss of Chadwick Boseman, who plays the role of King T’Challa, the Black Panther. Gurira said, “[The first] film allowed us, as women characters, to gain even more complexity. And it’s important that it’s not just a one-moment thing, but you see Black and women of color characters grow and have more dimension. If putting these characters in a heroic space propels that sense of ownership of self and what one can do with their own potential as young women and girls of color, that’s everything, really.”

When asked about how they prepared for the sequel after the loss of Boseman, Nyong’o shared, “There was a lot of stillness, reflection, prayer, and meditation to bolster me up as emotionally, mentally and spiritually as possible. It was a unique experience to step back into this world without our leader. When you have a sophomore film, there’s a lot of expectation. But I think the loss of Chadwick kind of took all that away. I found myself having to radically accept that this was going to be different, and that showing up with as much openness as possible was key.”

The 2018 Marvel film, Black Panther gained love and appreciation from fans around the world for breaking stereotypes, celebrating afrofuturism and black culture. It also won three Oscars in 2019. Needless to say, the expectations from the sequel are sky-high, but if the trailer and the feelings of the cast are qanything to go by, this one won’t disappoint either.