Daniel Kaluuya Will Not Return For ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

While the main cast of 2018’s Black Panther is back for the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be without a key cast member.

While speaking with Jacqueline Coley of Rotten Tomatoes during press for NOPE, Daniel Kaluuya revealed he will not be reprising his role of W’Kabi in Wakanda Forever. “Fresh from my NOPE interview with Daniel Kaluuya he did not reprise his role in #BlackPanther2 due to his schedule conflicts w/ #NOPE! It’s official he’s not in #BlackPantherWakandaForever,” Coley tweeted.

W’Kabi was the former head of security for Wakanda’s Border Tribe as well as T’Challa’s best friend. Having lost his faith in both T’Chaka and T’Challa due to their failures to capture Ulysses Klaue, the man who was responsible for the death of his parents, W’Kabi put his faith in Erik Killmonger, supporting him in taking the throne of Wakanda and seemingly killing T’Challa as a result. When his former king returned to challenge Killmonger, W’Kabi led the fight against T’Challa and M’Baku, leading to him being forced by Okoye to surrender.

Previous reports had listed Daniel Kaluuya as one of the cast members returning. It is unknown if his character will be revisited in the various Wakanda spin-offs in development.

Ryan Coogler returns to direct the feature with the core cast from the film also returning, this includes Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Martin Freeman as and Everett Ross. Narcos: Mexico star Tenoch Huerta and Michaela Coel also join the sequel, Huerta is playing Namor, while Coel is reportedly playing Madame Slade. Dominique Thorne will also make her debut as the character Riri Williams aka Ironheart.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever recently had its release date from July moved and is now set to hit theaters on November 11, 2022. Check back here at TheDisInsider.com as we continue to cover the MCU and everything at the house of mouse.