BLACK PANTHER director Ryan Coogler talks about his hopes for the future of the franchise

Director Ryan Coogler he made two beautiful ones Black Panther movies for the MCU, and after walking fans through the real life and on-screen death of our Black Panther, Chadwick Bosemann, some may be wondering where the future of the franchise is headed. Coogler said a couple months ago that he gave his sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever “everything he had,” and he wasn’t sure what was next, but now he’s talking about his hopes for the franchise.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Coogler was asked about his level of desire to tell more stories in Wakanda, and he explained:

“I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work on these films, brother. When I was asked to do the first one, it was like a runaway train. I thank God every day that I was able to jump on it and meet these people, these actors and meet Chadwick during some of the last few years of his life. I will do it as long as people have me. But I think he’s bigger than me or Joe. Between the first and second film, we made $2 billion at the box office, which is what matters most to the companies. So I hope it continues, man. I hope people continue to make movies about Wakanda long after we’re gone.

It seems like he’s open to the possibilities of the characters he’s created moving forward within the MCU under another creator’s watch, but he also doesn’t seem completely closed off about continuing the story on his own. It hasn’t been decided yet where this franchise will go. I hope he returns to take Shuri’s Black Panther on a new adventure alongside his brother T’Challa’s son, Toussaint. What would you like to see for the future of Black Panther?