Chadwick Boseman can be heard as the voice of T’Challa in four different episodes of Marvel’s What If…?. Sadly, Boseman passed away last year as he was preparing to reprise the role in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It’s since been confirmed he’d be heard one more time as the voice of T’Challa in What If…?, and better yet, we now know that he will be featured in four different episodes rather than just one story.
“He’s in four episodes, actually,” series executive producer Brad Winderbaum told ComicBook.com. “He plays different versions of the character. I wouldn’t say that anything changed drastically. We wanted to honor, frankly, his performance and his eagerness to be a part of the project. In retrospect, he recorded this episodes for us knowing what we all know now. We wanted to honor what he did, so we actually didn’t change a lot of it.”
He adds: “There were certain things, in the context of his passing, especially musically…Lauren Karpman delivered what I think is an incredible score for the entire series and the way she approached T’Challa throughout, especially in light of his passing, is really beautiful.”
One particular story on What If…? reimagines the Guardians of the Galaxy if T’Challa were Star-Lord. At a recent press conference promoting the series, director Bryan Andrews explained that Boseman was one of the first actors to sign on to reprise his role from the MCU for the show with dozens more to follow. He also suggested that while Boseman’s presence on the series is limited, it’s something that everyone involved really enjoyed.
“It was amazing to work with him,” Andrews said. “We only got a small moment because the episode was so short. Everyone was able to enjoy his presence. I think that he was even one of the first actors to sign on for the voice cast. I remember we were all so excited because we wanted to work with Chadwick and we all loved Black Panther.”
“Sometimes actors just want to hit the line and move on to the next one. But Chadwick wanted to do his part as a scene and build it up like a play. It was so much fun to do that because we got to read lines and do a performance with Chadwick Boseman,” the director added. “Because it was a version of him playing the king, but the king without the mantle, the royalty, and everything else that goes along with it. He could lighten it up and get more jokey with it. He was excited to bring back that flavor to T’Challa.”
Chadwick Boseman will not be featured in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as he passed away prior to filming. Kevin Feige has since stated that CGI will not be used to digitally bring back T’Challa, nor will the role be recast with another actor. The cast and crew have spoken about their intentions to honor Boseman with the sequel, but plot details are still tightly sealed on the project.
Marvel’s What If…? will premiere on Aug. 11 on Disney+. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released in theaters on July 8, 2022. This news comes to us from ComicBook.com.