'Black Panther' Director Ryan Coogler Recalls Last Conversation With Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman, who played King T’Challa in "Black Panther," "Captain America: Civil War," "Avengers: Infinity War," and "Avengers: Endgame," passed away in 2020 from colon cancer after keeping his illness a secret.

The highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel to "Black Panther" was already announced when the world learned of the sudden passing of Boseman, which left everyone wondering what was going to happen to "Black Panther 2."

During the Disney Investor Day 2020 event, the company announced that Marvel would continue moving forward with the sequel, and would not recast Boseman, but, instead, would be exploring “the world of Wakanda & the rich characters introduced in the first film”.

Now that the cast and crew of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" are beginning their press events to promote the upcoming film, director Ryan Coogler is getting vulnerable and opening up about his last conversation with the late Chadwick Boseman.

In a new episode of the "Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther" podcast, the "Black Panther "director is remembering his "last conversation" with Boseman.

Coogler explained that he called Boseman "to ask if he wanted to read [the script] before I got notes from the studio."

"That was the last time we spoke. He passed maybe a couple of weeks after I finished," he said.

The 36-year-old director started getting visibly emotional when he started to remember his last conversation with the late. actor, saying, "I could tell he was laying down when we were talking. He kicked [Taylor] Simone out because he told her he didn't want her to hear anything that could get him in trouble with his NDA."

However, Simone did not want to leave, which is when Coogler knew something wasn't right.

According to Coogler, at the time, Boseman refused to read the script for the sequel, blaming it on the fact that he did not want to get in the way of the studio's notes. "I found out later he was too tired to read anything," Coogler explained.

A few weeks after his last conversation with Boseman, Coogler said he received a call from his manager Charles King to inform him about Boseman's death.

"I didn't want to believe it, so I called Denzel [Washington] and I spoke to him, and we thought it might be a rumor, so I texted Chad. I was in denial," he explained.

When remembering the late actor, Coogler said "Everything about Chad was unique. How he lived and how he died was unique."

The "Black Panther" sequel will star Tenoch Huerta as Namor, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M'Baku and many others. The first film also starred Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa/Black Panther and Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger.

The sequel is said to pay tribute to Boseman, but it is unclear exactly how as the film and its script has been kept under wraps.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is set to hits theaters on November 11.