Black Panther 2: M’Baku Will Return, Confirms Actor Winston Duke

Winston Duke confirms his character M’Baku will return in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The film, written and directed once again by Black Panther‘s Ryan Coogler, recently began filming in Atlanta. With the first film grossing over a billion dollars at the box office and being the first superhero film ever nominated for Best Picture, expectations are high for Coogler, who recently produced the somewhat panned Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Following the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, Marvel announced that no other actor would play T’Challa, and the Black Panther 2‘s script would be rewritten. While it’s unclear at this time what that means for the story and characters, Marvel head Kevin Feige has revealed that the rest of the main actors would appear. No official list is out, but actors who have confirmed they’re in the sequel are Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, and Martin Freeman. There’s still no word from Letitia Wright or Daniel Kaluuya, yet they are expected to return as well.

Winston Duke confirmed to Collider that M’Baku will be in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This is the first direct acknowledgment of the character being in the sequel. Duke as well discussed how the script made him emotional, as well as just the act of packing to go to the set. The loss of Boseman remains at the forefront of the production process as Duke explains:

“It was very emotional to read the script. It was emotional to pack to go back to set. But we’re all a bit of a family now and we grieve together, and we’re making something really special.”

Duke attended the prestigious Yale School of Drama alongside Panther and Us costar Lupita Nyong’o, soon after earning small roles on Law & Order and Modern Family. Once Panther released, Duke became an overnight celebrity across social media, with many praising his performance as the mildly antagonistic M’Baku. For Duke to not return to the MCU would’ve been a noticed absence, with Duke himself initially hoping M’Baku would be the villain of Black Panther 2.

The story of the sequel is tightly under wraps, but it’s been suggested that the villain is going to be Namor the Sub-Mariner, played by Tenoch Huerta. The actor had a long history of exclusively Latin television before appearing recently in The Forever Purge and Narcos: Mexico. For Duke, it’s still unclear at this time how large a role M’Baku will play in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, be that as a side-villain, a fighter for Wakanda against Atlantis, or even going so far as superseding Shuri for the title of Wakanda’s new protagonist. The film will release in July 2022, and hopefully, many of the burning questions will be answered in a trailer prior to that.