The sequel of Disney’s Black Panther movie is shutting down production for at least a month. The production has to be put on a halt to allow star Letitia Wright to recover from an injury. Wright, who played Shuri in the predominantly Black superhero franchise, suffered an injury in August during shooting a sequence involving a stunt rig on-location in Boston.
However, at the time, Marvel Studios said Wright’s injury would ultimately not impact the shooting schedule of the film. The nature of Wright’s injury has not been revealed but was initially described as minor, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, after the injury, Wright left for London, where the star has been since, while the production shot around her character, Shuri, the sister of Black Panther T’Challa.
Wright’s Shuri became a fan-favorite breakout in the 2018 blockbuster, which grossed $1.3 billion and won three Oscars. When star Chadwick Boseman died from cancer in August 2020, the character was elevated as the lead of the sequel. “Letitia has been recovering in London since September from injuries sustained on the set of Black Panther 2 and is looking forward to returning to work early 2022,” a representative for Wright said in a statement to the outlet. “Letitia kindly asks that you keep her in your prayers.”
The production of the franchise is taking a hiatus to reconfigure the shoot to get things back on track for an early 2022 restart. The shutdown is expected to begin the week of Thanksgiving. However, the spokesman for Disney stated that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will pause the week of November 22 and is expected to resume in early 2022.”
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Wakanda Forever had been filming mostly in Atlanta for the last two months. Director Ryan Coogler is said to have shot all footage that his crew is able to without Wright. Although, the halt in production is not expected to affect the release of the movie. Although, Marvel already pushed back the release of Wakanda Forever in October, moving it from July 8, 2022, to November 11, 2022.