The following contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now playing in theaters.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever originally gave T'Challa's son a much larger role.
Co-screenwriter Joe Robert Cole sat down with Rolling Stone to break down the creative process behind the Black Panther sequel, as well as the film's major surprises. Among those surprises was a mid-credits scene that revealed Toussaint, the son of T'Challa and Nakia, who appears to Shuri (Letitia Wright) on a beach in Haiti. According to Cole, Toussaint was set to play a larger role in Wakanda Forever before the tragic passing of the film's star, Chadwick Boseman, in 2020.
"T’Challa had a child in a previous iteration of the script prior to Chad's passing," Cole said. "Him having a child was always in the DNA of what we wanted to do. We just weren't sure, after he passed, about the best way to incorporate him. So there were various iterations of his son being in our new story. And we finally landed on the reveal at the end. There was a point where I think when Ramonda [Angela Bassett] goes to Haiti, we had talked about potentially having him be revealed there. So we knew we wanted him to be a part of the movie in some way, and landed, I think, on the best possible version."
Wakanda Forever was originally set after the events of 2019's Avengers: Endgame when T'Challa and several Marvel superheroes were revived from Thanos' snap. The plot of the sequel was reworked after Boseman's passing. Director Ryan Coogler explained how Wakanda's king would have struggled to lead his country after a five-year absence from the world. "The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years," Coogler said. "As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that's what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn't get back. Grief was a big part of it."
Who Is Touissant?
Nakia introduces Shuri to T'Challa's son in Wakanda Forever's mid-credits scene, who introduces himself as Touissant, named after the Haitian freedom fighter Toussaint L'Ouverture. However, while Touissant is his Haitian name, it is revealed that his Wakandan name is T'Challa, named after his father. Though Wakanda Forever sees Shuri take over the Black Panther mantle, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are already speculating that T'Challa's child could play a major role in future projects by following in his father's footsteps.
Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in theaters.
Source: Rolling Stone