How the next Black Panther film will deal with the death of actor Chadwick Boseman is unclear, but one thing is certain: the film will not use CGI to replace the star, according to a Marvel Studios executive.
"There’s only one Chadwick and he’s not with us," Marvel Studios Executive Vice-President Victoria Alonso told the Argentinian news outlet Clarin. "Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we return to history and what we do to honor this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really."
Boseman died in August at age 43 after a years-long battle with colon cancer. The actor had been diagnosed with the disease in 2016, but kept his diagnosis from the general public. Boseman was fighting the disease during the filming of Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Because Chadwick was not only a wonder of a human being every day for the five years that we spent together, but it also seems to me that as a character what he did elevated us as a company, and has left his moment in history," Alonso said. "I know that sometimes two months go by or three months go by in production and you say, 'Well, it was a long time.' But it is not a long time, we have to think carefully about what we are going to do, and how, and think about how we are going to honor the franchise."
Prior to Boseman's death, Alonso had previously stated Marvel Studios had not considered ever using digital technology to recreate the likenesses of deceased actors. While still relatively rare, the usage of CGI in films to resurrect characters played by actors who had subsequently died has slowly been increasing. Disney notably recreated the likeness of actor Peter Cushing to reprise the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The technology has been used, however, to de-age characters, as was done with Samuel L. Jackson's character Nick Fury in Marvel Studios' 1990s-era Captain Marvel.
The second film, currently titled Black Panther II, is slated to begin production next year, with a targeted release date of May 6, 2022.