Now that it has been confirmed that British actor David Jonsson will step into the role of T’Challa’s son in the upcoming Black Panther 3 film, more details are emerging about how the Industry star landed the coveted role. According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler met with Jonsson in a “secret meeting” before quickly realizing he was the perfect fit to lead the franchise.
“We hadn’t started a search yet,” Feige explained during an interview with Empire published July 26. “Ryan was working on ‘Sinners,’ and when Ryan works on a project he’s all in. So the presumption very much was we would sit with him after ‘Sinners’ came out, after the Academy campaign. We were waiting ’til after the Academy Awards to sit with Ryan and begin that process.”
David Jonsson set to play T’Challa’s son in Black Panther 3: How did it happen? Here’s what Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed.
Feige said that after the meeting, Coogler knew almost immediately that Jonsson was the right person to carry on the legacy of T’Challa, the iconic hero originally portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman, for Black Panther 3.
“A month and a half or so before that process, he called me and said, ‘I found him.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He goes, ‘I found him. He’s this guy, David Jonsson,’” Feige continued. “He mentioned his movies. I had seen some of them. I watched more. He goes, ‘I’m going to meet him.’ He had a secret meeting with him under cloak of darkness in a hotel somewhere, and called me afterwards and said, ‘He’s the guy, he’s the guy, I felt it. I felt it in my soul. He’s a good man, and he is the next Black Panther.’ And I got chills, and I got a little welled-up and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So we’ve been sitting on this secret for a good five or six months.”
Winston Duke said he has complete “trust” in David Jonsson to carry on T’Challa’s namesake.
As previously reported on July 25, Coogler officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Jonsson would take on the role of Prince T’Challa II, the son and namesake of Boseman’s beloved hero. Boseman died of colon cancer in 2020, but the franchise will continue to honor his legacy through its returning cast.
Letitia Wright and Winston Duke are both set to return for the new chapter, which follows Prince T’Challa II as he comes of age and takes up the Black Panther mantle. Duke recently shared his excitement about Jonsson joining the franchise, telling Variety:
“I trust him as an artist. I also trust the people who chose him.”
Duke continued:
“I trust Ryan [Coogler]. I trust the entire MCU executive team. I think it’s going to be great.”
Black Panther marked Duke’s feature film debut, and he said he hopes to give Jonsson the same warm welcome he received when he first joined the Marvel family.
“How I was greeted and received into this world – which was with a lot of grace, being told it’s a safe space to work, to play — that’s what I wanted to extend to him,” he said. “I don’t have any advice. I know what I have to do with him, which is to play with him. I have to trust him. I have to give him the same grace that was extended to me.”
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he also called Jonsson “a wonderful young man.”
Letitia Wright called the exciting Black Panther 3 casting “beautiful.”
Wright also shared her excitement over the casting. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly‘s Gerrad Hall at the EW Comic-Con studio, the actress called the news “beautiful,” saying she was thrilled to see such an opportunity come to “a special person with a good heart.”
“The news was really beautiful to hear because I have a personal connection to David,” Wright, who plays T’Challa’s sister, Princess Shuri, explained. “To see the full circle of that today, I’m still living in it. We’re both still checking in with each other about it.”
Wright added:
“She now has that mantle to pass on, and [that] guidance and the wisdom. I’m going to have a really, really good time, a lot of fun — and I’m going to pick on him so much.”
After the news was announced, David Jonsson grew visibly emotional as fans erupted in cheers during Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel at Comic-Con this weekend.
“I want to say thank you so much. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, [Kevin Feige]. Thank you to this amazing family that I honor, [it’s] a privilege and blessing to join,” he gushed. “I don’t want to say too much because I want to let the screen do the talking, but believe me, the honor is entirely mine.”
