Ryan Coogler has confirmed that a third Black Panther film is moving forward and that it will be his next feature, giving a rare clear signal about the future of Wakanda on screen. Speaking during Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles event, the filmmaker said his team is “working on it hard” and, after a brief joke about keeping quiet, stated that Black Panther 3 is “the next movie” he plans to direct.
The confirmation follows months of speculation around the franchise and Coogler’s crowded slate after his period thriller Sinners. Earlier this year Marvel producer Nate Moore described work on a third Black Panther as “so early,” saying that only a handful of conversations with Coogler had taken place and that online rumors about casting and villains did not reflect any real decisions. Moore said the studio had not yet settled on a story, which left viewers unsure how soon Wakanda would return to cinemas.
In June, Coogler told a podcast that he had written a role in the new film for Denzel Washington, calling the two-time Oscar winner “the greatest living actor.” Washington had previously mentioned on Australian television that Coogler was writing a part for him before later apologizing for revealing the collaboration ahead of any formal announcement. He also has a connection to the series: the late Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa in the first film, spoke publicly about Washington’s financial support for his drama studies, remarking that “there is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Coogler has spoken about the emotional strain of making Black Panther: Wakanda Forever after Boseman’s death, saying earlier this year that his “heart broke” during the process. At the same time he has continued to develop other work, including a planned reboot of The X-Files. His latest comments draw a clearer line between those projects: the X-Files series appears set to move forward on television, while Black Panther 3 is framed as his next film. Commentators point out that scripting and Marvel’s crowded release calendar mean production is unlikely to start at once, and the studio has yet to date or even officially announce the sequel, but Coogler’s remarks confirm his intention to return to Wakanda again as director.
