*In Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye, and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their kingdom from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.
Lupita Nyong’o stars as Nakia, one of the greatest spies Wakanda has ever known and also the love of King T’Challa. We spoke with the Oscar-winning actress about her vision of the character of Nakia in the sequel and what brings Nakia back to Wakanda.
The actor shared that she couldn’t see a vision for the franchise without Chadwick Boseman’s (T’Challa) involvement. Nyong’o explained how director Ryan Coogler’s vision was vital to bringing a script that depicted the story in a way that made sense to her.
“Honestly, I couldn’t imagine moving forward with the story. After Chadwick died, I had no imagination for what happened in Wakanda. I was at a loss. I didn’t know how. And when Ryan walked me through his new idea for our second movie, I wept and breathed a sigh of relief because he sure had figured it out,” she explained.
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“And I was so heartened by the fact that he leaned into the loss that we had experienced. Ryan chose to explore grief and how we deal with it differently and ask how you move forward when such a deep, great tragedy has occurred. He offers us some solutions and also some hope in this story. So for me, Nakia was squarely in his hands,” Nyong’o continued.
In “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Nakia returns to her War Dog roots.
“I think Nakia is the kind of character who is extremely loyal and shows up for the people she loves,” Nyong’o. “But she also stands up for herself. And I think that’s always excited me: she has a strong sense of self and character. I think that’s what T’Challa loved in her to begin with. And in this film, where she’s lost T’Challa, we see how her priorities have shifted and sharpened,” she explained.
“She is more mature. She knows who she is more than she ever did. And it shows in her choices and how she makes them,” she added.
Check out my full conversation with Lupita via the video below.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” opens in US theatres on November 11.
*Jill Munroe is a Los Angeles-bred entertainment journalist, producer, and host. You can follow her on all social media @StilettoJill or check out JillMunroe.com
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