While it’s hard enough to swallow the fact that we will never see Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman reprise his role as the benevolent King T’Challa, hearing about all the things the talented actor was meant to do with the character makes it even more difficult. Unfortunately, that’s just what happened in a recent interview with Variety, in which What If… creators A.C. Bradley and Bryan Andrews shared some heartbreaking news regarding Boseman’s role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it was supposed to expand in the coming years.
According to the pair, the late actor was meant to star in a spin-off series following his T’Challa’s storyline in What If…, in which the young prince never becomes Black Panther but is instead abducted by Yondu who raises him up to ultimately become Star Lord. Andrews says that as of right now, that show idea is in limbo, with the studio unsure of how — or if — to presume.
“I don’t know if he knew this, but there was planning to have Star Lord T’Challa spin off into his own show with that universe and crew. We were all very excited. We know he would have loved it, too. And then, you know, he passed, and so all that’s in limbo. So, who knows? Maybe one day.”
Andrews isn’t the first person to claim Boseman absolutely loved doing voice work for the Disney+ series. Earlier this year, What If… executive producer Brad Winderbaum said that while the actor never saw the finished project, he was “very excited about taking part in it” and was “just so enthusiastic about finding a new spin on the character” with each of his four performances in What If… Andrews and Bradley also both confirmed that Boseman was not able to record any lines for What If… season two prior to his passing, adding they “lucky” they even had him in season one. According to Andrews:
“Chadwick had recorded his Star Lord T’Challa stuff early. But we had those later episodes that he appeared in sporadically, and it was a long stretch before we got him [again]. And it was not long after the final recording that he passed. I think it was maybe just a few months, or a month. None of us knew, obviously. But we got him in time to have everything [for Season 1]. I think he was also trying to make an effort because T’Challa was so important to him — and also this new version of Star Lord T’Challa was so important to him. He dug it.”
The entire first season of What If…, featuring the last T’Challa performance from Chadwick Boseman, is now available to watch on Disney+. As of right now, there is no news on when the series’ second season is coming.