Black Panther’s Lupita Nyong’o Says Marvel Was Nervous About the Film’s Chances

Now more than ever, Marvel is walking a tightrope to see whether the shotgun method of its slate of films and TV shows will land with fans or miss the mark. While fans often get caught wearing rose-tinted glasses while looking back on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s many narrative and box office triumphs, Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o revealed that the comic book higher-ups were unsure of the film’s chances in its growing cinematic pantheon.

During a press junket for her new Disney film The Wild Robot at the BFI London Film Festival, Nyong’o recounted how Marvel was trepidatious about Black Panther while it was in production. Despite the Black Panther character’s roaring success in his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, Nyong’o said Marvel was worried if fans would continue to be receptive to the superhero in his own solo film—a film that would also be the MCU’s first Black-led superhero film (not counting Blade).

“There was a lot of fear, definitely from the executives… Marvel was shaking a little bit in their boots,” Nyong’o said. “We were too because we were like, we only get to do this once. And we gotta do it right.” Fortunately, as Nyong’o noted, Black Panther “totally shattered the myth that Black doesn’t sell” and quickly became one of Marvel’s most successful films.

While Lupita hasn’t been shy about her enthusiasm for joining Black Panther‘s cast, what prompted her aside about the film’s legacy at the BFI London Film Festival was seeing a clip of her and the late Chadwick Boseman‘s T’Challa. According to the Hollywood Reporter, witnessing the clip led Nyong’o to fall silent and later prompted her to reveal that she hadn’t watched the film since Boseman’s passing in 2020 from colon cancer.

Nyong’o not only played opposite Boseman as T’Challa’s love interest, Nakia, but in real life she also became his close friend. Boseman’s passing led director Ryan Coogler to revise the story of Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever to pay tribute to Boseman’s passing, allowing both moviegoers and Boseman’s co-stars to mourn his passing.

At the BFI #LFF, Lupita Nyong’o begins to cry after being shown a clip of her and Chadwick Boseman in #BlackPanther – which she says she hasn’t watched since the actor’s death in 2020: “The grief is the love and nowhere to put it” pic.twitter.com/avxpEKShHW

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 14, 2024

“The grief is the love, and no place to put it,” Nyong’o said.  I don’t want [to] run away from the tears or the grief. You just live with it. That experience will never be separate from the love that formed,” Lupita said, after reportedly politely declining to move on to another Black Panther clip.

She continued: “I watch this clip and I’m filled with grief and I don’t know whether I’ll ever be done shedding tears from losing my friend. But I’m like, we get to see him alive. And that’s so wonderful.”

The Wild Robot is in theaters now.

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