Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Production Just Can't Catch A Break
Among the many setbacks that film schedules across the country have had to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a delay in production is one of the more costly ones. Sadly, amid the rapidly surging cases of the Omicron variant, several shows and movies have had to do exactly that. Production schedules have been delayed on account of restrictions, or cast and crew members testing positive. However, for Marvel's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," delays have become an unfortunate recurrence impacting the production of the sequel.
In August, Letitia Wright — who plays King T'Challa's genius sister Shuri in the franchise — suffered from an injury while shooting a stunt for the movie on location in Boston. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which presumably has increased the size of Shuri's role after the tragic death of "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman in 2020, was forced to halt shooting with Wright to give her enough time to recuperate. It was later announced that the movie would halt its production until January 2022.
Now, January has arrived, and while the film began production in the midst of an ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, another setback has forced the Marvel movie to come to a halt, once again.
COVID-19 on the set of Wakanda Forever
Just as Wright was set to resume her Wakandan responsibilities on set last week and the film's production was finally going to be underway, a number of positive COVID reports from within the cast and crew further delayed the schedule (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Lupita Nyong'o, who plays the role of Nakia, an undercover spy for the Wakandan intelligence, revealed with a tweet that she was isolating. The actress also recused herself from participating in virtual events promoting her recent movie "355," where the actress stars with Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, and others as a British intelligence agent (per Deadline).
As a result, the production for Marvel's third movie this year was delayed once again. With the film already having suffered several delays in the production schedule last year, a genuine concern that plagues "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is the impact on its release date.
The movie had already been pushed once from its originally planned July 2022 release. But fret not, dear fan — shortly before the COVID news, The Hollywood Reporter claimed to know that the delay related to Wright's injury would not impact the release date the Marvel Cinematic Universe bosses have set for the movie, so hopefully the same will hold true for this newest setback. As it stands, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is slated to release on November 11, 2022.