Director Ryan Coogler opened up about his original vision for the Black Panther sequel, which he conceived before the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020.

Boseman, who played T’Challa in the 2018 Marvel hit, was set to have a more expansive arc in the follow-up, Coogler revealed on the Dec. 29 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz.

“I threw a lot at Chad in the first Panther. But I realized I was just scratching the surface… I was like a dump truck on him,” Coogler said.

The Ritual of Eight

In Coogler’s original script, the story focused on T’Challa and his young son taking part in a coming-of-age tradition called The Ritual of Eight.

“When a prince is eight years old, he has to spend eight days in the bush with his father, without tools. During that time, he can ask his father any question, and the father must answer. But during those eight days, Namor launches an attack. That was the movie,” Coogler explained.

Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta, remained the antagonist in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and will return in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

Boseman Never Saw the Script

Coogler shared that Boseman, who passed away at 43 from colon cancer, was too ill to read the original script:

“I finished it, and he was too sick to read it… it wasn’t gonna happen.”

After Boseman’s death, Coogler and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige chose not to recast T’Challa. Instead, the sequel was reworked to incorporate T’Challa’s death, resulting in the 2022 release of Wakanda Forever.

A Lasting Impact

Coogler also recalled Boseman’s supportive nature on the set of the first film:

“I was convinced on the toughest days on Panther that I was gonna get fired… one day he took me aside and said, ‘Yo, stop saying that… I would never let that happen to you.’”

The director described Boseman as a mentor and inspiration, saying he “meant a lot” to him.