With the San Diego Comic-Con Hall H show at an end, Marvel Studios made sure to put a definitive stamp on what is in store for its Wakandan sub-franchise. The studio put to rest any speculation by confirming a December 15, 2028 date for Black Panther 3 and that Ryan Coogler will be back in the writer and director’s chair.
But the panel’s main talking point was the news of David Jonsson (The Long Walk, Alien: Romulus). The British actor has been chosen to take on the part of King T’Challa’s adult son, a move that sees him inherit the mantle as the story advances.
It is a case of generational succession. We were given our first look at Toussaint, the young son who bears his father’s Wakandan name, in the final scenes of 2022’s Wakanda Forever. Now with Jonsson in the mix, there is no question how Marvel intends to proceed with such a culturally important property. Coogler’s script for the third film makes a significant timeline leap; instead of an awkward recasting of Chadwick Boseman, the narrative will have the younger T’Challa come of age and assume the political and heroic burden of his late father. Having seen what Jonsson can do in Rye Lane and Industry, the studio has a dramatic lead it can trust with a tentpole of this magnitude.
There is plenty of continuity to be had with Coogler’s involvement in a franchise that has already put over $2.1 billion on the global box office. Letitia Wright as Shuri and Winston Duke in the role of M’Baku are among those set to return. Then there is Denzel Washington, who Coogler has written a part for and whom Washington himself alluded to in press in late 2024. Coogler also took the stage to note they will be shooting on 70mm large-format celluloid.
One could call it a long-term strategy on Disney’s part to have an anchor in the prime holiday corridor of December 2028. In doing so, Coogler has given the sub-franchise a new runway for the coming decade without the need for an immediate replacement for Boseman. With the likes of Washington and Jonsson on board, it is very much a director-driven affair and not just another assembly-line superhero film.
From a commercial standpoint, the mid-December slot shows confidence from Disney; it is where event cinema has historically found its legs. By placing the film after the Multiverse arc has run its course, Marvel is making Black Panther 3 a cornerstone for the next era rather than a stopgap. It is a logical way forward for one of the few global brands left standing in the post-Secret Wars landscape.