After five months away, Letitia Wright has returned to the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Polygon confirmed on Friday. The actress fractured her shoulder performing a stunt while the production was on location in Boston in August. She had been convalescing in London. Director Ryan Coogler and company continued shooting as long as they could without her at Marvel’s Atlanta studio but eventually suspended operations in November.
“We’re on schedule,” Wright’s representatives said, addressing her return.
Few tentpoles are more anticipated than the Black Panther sequel. The 2018 film, the first superhero movie to earn a best picture Academy Award nomination (some sneaky people like to also cite Birdman, but we say that does not count), grossed $1.34 billion worldwide and remains an international sensation.
The August 2020 death of Chadwick Boseman, who played King T’Challa of Wakanda, necessitated a significant rewrite of the sequel. Marvel majordomo Kevin Feige was unaware of Boseman’s illness before the day of his death. Though the filmmakers announced that they would not recast Boseman’s role, other aspects of the film’s plot are still held tight to Marvel’s vest. It is rumored that Wright’s character, T’Challa’s sister Shuri, will have a prominent place in the film.