How does one make a “Black Panther” film without Black Panther himself? That was the challenge facing writer/director Ryan Coogler and the entire “Black Panther 2” team when star Chadwick Boseman suddenly died after a long, private battle with colon cancer. At the time, Coogler said he was unaware of Boseman’s illness and had spent the entire previous year “preparing, imagining and writing words for him to say [in ‘Black Panther 2’] that we weren’t destined to see.”
Coogler reworked the script and the role of T’Challa was not recast. So what was it like making “Black Panther 2” without Boseman? According to co-star Martin Freeman – who reprises his role as Everett Ross in the sequel – it was expectedly “strange and sad.”