Why isn’t Daniel Kaluuya in ‘Wakanda Forever’?

The post below contains very minor spoilers Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Almost all supporting characters black panther Revived in the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forevercontinues the story of Wakanda and pays tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. Wakanda ForeverIncluding Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda, Winston Duke’s Mubaku, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, and Danai Gurira’s Okoye. No Among those returning for this sequel, the only mention of him is brief and easily missed.

that is Daniel Kaluuya, played W’Kabi.of black panther, W’Kabi was the leader of the Wakanda Border Tribe. He is her T’Challa’s trusted friend and advisor, as well as his Okoye’s lover, head of the all-female military unit Dora Milaje.

W’Kabi is initially close to T’Challa, but captures the mercenary Ulysses Klaue, who stole Vibranium from Wakanda many years ago and killed many Wakandans, including W’Kabi’s parents, in the process. disillusioned with his leadership after failing to do so. Ukabi is furious when T’Challa returns to Wakanda empty-handed in an attempt to capture Klaue. When Killmonger appears with the dead Klaue, Ukabi welcomes him into Wakanda with open arms. And when Killmonger defeats T’Challa for control of Wakanda, he supports Killmonger’s claim to the throne.

When T’Challa returns at the film’s climax, W’Kabi remains loyal to Killmonger, leading the Border Tribe’s soldiers against the former (and future) king. When Okoye and Dora Milaje come to support T’Challa, she and Ukabi are forced on opposite sides of the battle — until Ukabi decides to surrender rather than kill her beloved.

This is the last time we see W’Kabi black leopard. As Wakanda Forever has begun, T’Challa has just died, and his loved ones are leading Wakanda in a massive funeral procession. Ukabi is nowhere to be seen and does not appear in the rest of the film, but is briefly mentioned later in a scene where Queen Ramonda confronts Okoye about the failure of her important mission.

Ramonda blames Okoye for ruining her mission, and in her anger, she observes that her husband is dead (it is T’Challa’s father who was killed by Zemo). would be King T’Chaka). Captain America: Civil War), Okoye’s husband remains alive in prison and she is able to visit him. (This is the first time we’ve heard that Okoye and Ukabi are husband and wife. The details of their relationship weren’t spelled out in the previous film.) So, since he’s in Wakanda’s prison, Ukabi never appears in the film. All the way – this makes some sense. He supported Killmonger against T’Challa and T’Challa became king again.

While this is a reasonable explanation for W’Kabi not appearing in the story, there were actually off-screen reasons behind Kaluuya’s departure.He’s been busy filming Jordan Peele No (The leading role, as opposed to a relatively minor supporting role) Wakanda Forever was in production. because he couldn’t do both black panther Sequel. (I also wonder if Kaluuya’s winning of an Academy Award for Best Actor between the two films had anything to do with his departure.)

However Wakanda Forever Reveals that W’Kabi is not dead.He’s somewhere in Wakanda’s prison, waiting for a sequel that’s consistent with the actor’s busy filming schedule. black panther 3or the rumored Wakanda Disney+ series.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently in theaters.