Why ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ got premiered in Lagos

In a notable first, the latest Marvel movie, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, premiered officially in Lagos, Nigeria over the weekend.

By Mariam Abdullahi

On November 6, Sunday evening, and days ahead of the film’s theatrical release on November 11, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ was premiered in Lagos Nigeria. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who helmed the first film, it is expected to be a blockbuster just like the first film. The cast, as well as the director, visited Lagos to launch a continent-wide series of premieres, with the Nigerian one starting off as the main one.

It also kicked off continent-wide celebrations ahead of the release of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. The film continues with the story of T’Challa, the king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, and it stars Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, and Tenoch Huerta as anti-hero/villain Namor (also known as the Sub-Mariner in the comics).

There was a Sunday morning press conference with some cast and crew members at Lagos Continental Hotel. Director Coogler, who snagged an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture for the first ‘Black Panther’ movie, said Lagos has a lot of history and cultural significance for filmmakers. He also informed the ecstatic audience that he recently took a genealogy test that revealed his lineage.

Coogler said: “If you know African American history, it’s tough for us to trace our genetic lineage. So one of the things I spoke with the late Chadwick Boseman about when we first met and were getting ready to put his movie on was that he put me up on something called AfricanAncestry.com. It was specific about finding out where you have a heritage. Chad had done his own, and he explained how it is done. So when I did mine, it came back as having lineage to a part of Cameroon, but mainly Yoruba lineage. It was something that I held on to and always wanted to travel to Nigeria for that reason.”

Coogler also said while different parts of Africa influenced the film, Nigerian culture exudes a specific energy that is hard to ignore. That feeling is evident in the striking soundtrack of the film, which has Rihanna’s first song in over half-a-decade, co-written by Nigerian sensation Tems. It also features powerful songs by other Nigerian artistes like Burna Boy, Fireboy DML, Ckay, Rema, Tobe Nwigwe and Fat Nwigwe, including a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ by Tems.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is probably the most highly-anticipated film of the year, a direct sequel to 2018’s ‘Black Panther’, which starred Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 of Colon Cancer aged 43.

‘Wakanda Forever’ sees Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) to forge a new path for the kingdom. The film introduces Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ premieres on Nov. 11.