Wakanda apparently wasn’t forever for Daniel Kaluuya.
The Oscar-winning actor has dropped out of Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday.
Movie review website Rotten Tomatoes — which broke the news — said Kaluuya backed out of the film “due to his schedule conflicts” with Jordan Peele’s new thriller Nope, which opens on July 22. The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed the news.
Kaluuya played W’Kabi, best friend to T’Challa/Black Panther, in Black Panther.
Related Story: ‘Nope’ Trailer – Keke Palmer Has an Ominous Warning in Jordan Peele Thriller (Video)
Production on the sequel has been affected by a string of setbacks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of star Chadwick Boseman who passed away from colon cancer on Aug. 28, 2020. In another setback, Letitia Wright was hospitalized in August 2021 after an accident on a stunt rig while filming the sequel in Boston. Most of the film was shot in Atlanta and production continued for as long as possible with the crew shooting around Wright’s character, but filming was temporarily halted in November 2021.
Last year Disney announced Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was being pushed from a July 8, 2022 release to Nov. 11, 2022, as the studio shifted the opening dates for its upcoming Marvel films.
Kaluuya has been busy promoting Nope and co-stars in the film with Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, and Donna Mills. The thriller is written and directed by Jordan Peele and produced by Ian Cooper (Us, Candyman).
The Universal Pictures release centers on the residents of a lonely gulch in inland California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.
This is the third movie Peele has directed after Us (2019) and Oscar-winning Get Out (2017), which starred Kaluuya.
Last year Kaluuya won a best supporting actor Academy Award for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.
This Friday he’ll make an appearance on the latest episode of LeBron James’ digital talk show, The Shop: Uninterrupted, which has been making headlines after James got political in a preview clip and criticized U.S. government efforts to bring detained WNBA star Brittney Griner home from Russia.
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