Wakanda Forever draws inspiration from Mayan and Mesoamerican culture
When the haunting lyrics and melody of Rihanna’s mournful Lift Me Up, the end title song of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, started playing, not one eye was dry inside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood at last week’s world premiere of the highly-anticipated sequel to one of Marvel’s biggest box-office hits — and the only superhero movie to ever get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture!
It didn’t matter that the movie was almost as long as the longest Marvel movie, what mattered was that we got the closure we needed after the painful passing of Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Chadwick originated Black Panther in 2018 and was on his way to superstardom when his life was cut short by an unforgiving illness.
Wakanda Forever is more than a tribute to him, it honors him and the legacy he built in the aspirational kingdom of Wakanda, and, in a memorable sequence, his own personal journey as an actor that parallels the story of Prince T’Challa aka Black Panther.
Nate Moore, one of the producers of the film, sat with The STAR for a roundtable interview last week and shared how Wakanda Forever was brought to screen.
“The conversation was really how do we move forward and bring people back to a world that they really loved in Wakanda, but also to be honest and truthful about the loss we experienced offscreen and onscreen,” he said. “As much as you don’t always want art to imitate life, there seems like this was it because the movie was being built on the foundation of real loss. The cast and the crew, who all knew Chadwick from the first film, were dealing with that loss.”
This movie is a journey not just of the characters on screen, but also for the fans of Chadwick, whose death left many of them wondering how he will be remembered in the sequel. Writer/director Ryan Coogler and his co-writer, Joe Robert Cole, have devised an excellent way for fans to not only feel watch Chadwick being honored but be, sort of, in the movie itself.
“It really is about the stages of grief and Shuri is the access point character for fans,” Nate agreed with this writer’s thoughts when shared with him. “I think, because of the suddenness of his passing, a lot of fans still haven’t really had a chance to grieve and to get past the grief. It was important to tell the story because I think we have a shot at giving people a cathartic moment in theaters where they can kind of process that grief.”
Letitia Wright, who returns as Shuri, echoed Nate’s statements during the press conference for the movie.
“It was, firstly, through connecting with Ryan, you know, that heart-to-heart conversation of how we take a step forward, how this young woman is going through something alongside her fellow family members,” she recalled. “The way it was written, and the delicacy, the gentleness of how we approached it, we always spoke, we always communicated, at every step of the way. And we were able to bring something that felt real, that felt truthful. And I was able to really give my heart to it and give Shuri a full arc. And hopefully people can really resonate with that and find some healing, you know, alongside us, with it.”
For Danai Gurira, who returns as Okoye, the intricate connection between her character and herself was an intense and unprecedented experience as it dealt with Chadwick’s death, who she considers her brother.
“The pain and the displacement that my character was feeling was not hard for me to access because it was in sync with how it was so intense and grief-filled to walk this journey and tell the story without him in real life,” she said at a separate roundtable. “There was a deep connection that I felt with my character as she navigated a world that he was her brother — there was definitely a deep connection there that was very organic — while also seeking my brother as myself, as Danai.”
It is not all doom and gloom, however. This film marks the culmination of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a phase described as loss and renewal, and Marvel did everything to make this as memorable, as thrilling, as exciting and as poignant as the conclusion of Phase 3. It may not match the scope of Endgame but the action, set pieces and the introduction of a new kingdom and a new character had every fan at our screening screaming and applauding. The underwater scenes are breathtaking.
From the rich and vibrant culture of Wakanda, based on forgotten Africa, this sequel takes us to the painful history of the South American continent and introduces to the Mayan culture, and a beloved character that many fans have been clamoring to see in the MCU.
“We wanted to anchor Namor in a real civilization. We did a ton of research on Mesoamerica and really fell in love with the idea of anchoring him in Mayan culture, both in past and present. Experientially, obviously, they had gone through a period of colonization that we thought thematically was interesting to explore, especially as it’s juxtaposed with Wakanda, which has never been colonized,” Nate noted.
Playing Namor is Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. Namor is the king of Talokan, an ancient civilization of underwater dwelling people that shares a history with the Mayans. He is also the first documented mutant.
“I think when Ryan and all the team decided to give Namor this background, it was a fantastic move and I think now is the perfect moment to speak about it,” Tenoch acknowledged during the press conference.
“In Latin America, especially Mexico, we deny our indigenous roots. It’s just like a token sometimes. But we deny it because it’s not about genes for us because almost everybody in Mexico has indigenous or African roots, it’s about culture, you know.”
It is Tenoch’s hope that this movie will encourage everyone to embrace who they are.
“They taught us to be ashamed of who we are, but it’s time to cut it off and say, yeah, this is who I am and never had nothing wrong with me. You know, the mistake was in the eyes of those who were looking at us, who were judging us.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on Nov. 9.
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