The older brother of Chadwick Boseman has reportedly supported fans' call to recast the Black Panther character following the actor's death in 2020.
Derrick Boseman reportedly told TMZ he thinks T'Challa needs to live on in the Marvel franchise.
The preacher from Tennessee reportedly said that a recast is something that his younger brother would have wanted to happen.
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Boseman died of colon cancer, aged 43, and his brother says he believed the character was bigger than just himself.
One fan wrote: “Chadwick Boseman worked through cancer to give T’Challa life.
"Now you want to kill off T’Challa despite Chadwick Boseman’s hard work and sacrifice?
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"#RecastTchalla out of respect for Chadwick and the character’s history!"
Another added: “I know this is a bit of a hot take but a lot of this rumoured on set drama of Black Panther 2 might’ve been prevented if they just recast T’Challa.
"I know people loved Chadwick Boseman, I did too, but that character had more stories to tell."
In 2020, Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso was asked about the possibility of digitally recreating Boseman's likeness for the sequel.
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It was something she immediately ruled out, saying: "No. There is only one Chadwick, and he is not with us.
"Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we continue the story and what we do to honour this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really."
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to release in 2022 and, more recently, Marvel’s vice president of development Nate Moore appeared on the RingerVerse podcast to explain the company’s stance on recasting the character given the imminent future of the franchise.
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"I'll say the chances that you see T'Challa in our - I'm not hedging my bets here, I am being quite honest.
"You will not see T'Challa in the MCU 616 Universe. We couldn't do it," he said. "When [Chadwick] passed, there was a real conversation we had with [director Ryan] Coogler about what do we do, and it was a fast conversation.
“It wasn't weeks, it was minutes of discussing how we move this franchise forward without this character because I think we all feel so much of T'Challa on the screen is tied to Chadwick Boseman,” continued Moore.
"As hard as it is narratively to figure out what to do next because that's a big hole, at no point did we consider recasting.
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"The challenge for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is how to tell a story without T'Challa, and it's a challenge we are up for.”
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Black Panther, Marvel, Chadwick Boseman, TV and Film