Lupita Nyong’o thinks it was the right decision not to recast T'Challa in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.
The 39-year-old star reprises her role as the spy Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) sequel and supports the choice not to replace the late Chadwick Boseman following his passing in 2020 after a private battle with cancer.
Nyong’o told “The Hollywood Reporter”: "That is not the death of the ‘Black Panther’, that's the whole point. It’s laying to rest (T’Challa) and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies.
“I know that there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast, but I don’t have the patience.
“I don’t have the presence of mind, or I don’t have the objectivity to argue with that. I don’t. I am very biased."
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Nyong’o spoke of the process of making the film while grieving for Chadwick and praised director Ryan Coogler for honouring the late actor’s legacy with the sequel.
The “Star Wars” actress said: "Ryan wrote something that so honoured the truth of what every one of us was feeling, those of us who knew Chadwick.
“He created something that could honour that and carry the story forward. By the end, I was weeping.”
Nyong’o also opened up on the changes that had to be made to the movie after Chadwick’s death.
She said: “Losing your centrepiece, everything changed. When you say the world rotated around him, it revolved around him, it did.
“The script we wrote before Chadwick passed was very much rooted in T’Challa’s perspective.
“It was a massive movie but also simultaneously a character study that delved deeply into his psyche and situation.”