In a press release announcing the start of production on "Black Panther," Marvel Studios has confirmed several rumored cast additions, including Andy Serkis.
According to the announcement, the upcoming film will star Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett, Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis. The "additional cast members" include Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Sterling K. Brown and John Kani.
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Notably, both Kasumba and Kani appeared in "Captain America: Civil War," which introduced Boseman's T'Challa and his people to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kasumba appeared as Ayo, one of the Dora Milaje, an elite group of warriors tasked with protecting the king. Kani will reprise his role as Black Panther's deceased father T'Chaka, likely in a flashback sequence. Freeman will also return as Everett K. Ross, an American official and the Deputy Task Force Commander of the Joint Counter Terrorist Center.
Serkis will also reprise his role from "Avengers: Age of Ultron," where he appeared as Ulysses Klaue. Klaue is an arms dealer who works with vibranium, which means he covets Wakanda's natural supply of the precious metal. "Black Panther" certainly won't be his first encounter with the secretive country; in "Age of Ultron," the Avengers discovered he had been branded with a Wakandan symbol because he had attempted to steal from them before. As Serkis' inclusion in "Black Panther" indicates, Klaue isn't done with Wakanda just yet.
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According to the film's synopsis, which was released with the cast list,
“Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to take his place as King. However, when an old enemy reappears on the radar, T’Challa’s mettle as King and Black Panther is tested when he is drawn into a conflict that puts the entire fate of Wakanda and the world at risk.
The film will be shot in Atlanta, Georgia and South Korea.
Directed by Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station,” “Creed”), “Black Panther” stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, alongside Michael B. Jordan as Erik Kilmonger, Forest Whitaker as Zuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Sterling K. Brown as N’Jobu, Florence Kasumba as Ayo. The film opens February 16, 2018.