Marvel Studios revealed that David Jonsson has been cast as the next Black Panther nearly six months before the announcement reached the public, according to studio president Kevin Feige. Jonsson will play an adult version of T’Challa’s son in “Black Panther 3,” which director Ryan Coogler confirmed Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con alongside a December 15, 2028 release date.
Feige said Coogler identified Jonsson early, holding a private meeting with the actor well before the search for the role formally began. “We hadn’t started a search yet,” Feige explained. “Ryan was working on ‘Sinners,’ and when Ryan works on a project he’s all in,” he said, noting that the plan had been to meet with Jonsson only after that film’s release and its awards campaign concluded. Feige described his own reaction to seeing Coogler’s early conviction in the choice, saying it gave him chills.
Jonsson steps into the role of Prince T’Challa II, known in earlier films as Toussaint, the son of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa and Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia. The character first appeared as a child in the closing scene of 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which shifted the Black Panther mantle to Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, following Boseman’s death from colon cancer in 2020. Coogler told the Hall H crowd that the new film will follow the prince as he “comes of age,” picking up years after the events of the previous installment.
Wright and Winston Duke, who plays M’Baku, joined Coogler and Jonsson on stage for the reveal, which drew a standing ovation and chants from the audience. “Thank you to this amazing family that I have the honor and the privilege and the blessing to join,” Jonsson told the crowd, previously known for roles in “Alien: Romulus” and “The Long Walk.”
The first “Black Panther” grossed $1.3 billion worldwide and earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, cementing the franchise as one of Marvel’s most acclaimed. “Wakanda Forever” followed with a $859 million global haul despite the loss of its original star. Production details for the third film, including its shooting format, have not yet been disclosed.
