Lupita Nyong'o Learned Of Chadwick Boseman's Death Via Text Message Sent By Viola Davis

Nyong’o is starring in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the 2018 Marvel blockbuster. And during the interview, said she agreed with Marvel’s decision not to recast Boseman’s character, T’Challa.

“That is not the death of the Black Panther, that’s the whole point,” she said. “It’s laying to rest [T’Challa] and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies. I know that there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast, but I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the presence of mind, or I don’t have the objectivity to argue with that. I don’t. I’m very biased.”

Instead of recasting Boseman’s character, Black Panther writers Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole have decided to include T’Challa’s death in the story. The film now revolves around a different Wakandan becoming the Black Panther.

Nyong’o said Boseman had an aura that cannot be replaced.

“Losing your centerpiece, everything changed,” she said. “When you say the world rotated around him, it revolved around him, it did.”

The 39-year-old actress first expressed her grief when she took to Instagram 10 days after the death of Boseman.

“I remember being struck by his quiet, powerful presence,” she wrote, according to Hollywood Life. “He had no airs about him, but there was a higher frequency that he seemed to operate from. You got the sense that he was fully present and also somehow fully aware of things in the distant future.”

Fans have been speculating about who will be the next leader of Wakanda. Some say it could be Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, who will take over as the protector of the fictional nation.

Nyong’o was also asked if she’s the next Black Panther.

“If I told you that, I might as well just … swim into the ocean and never be seen again,” she replied.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released on Nov. 11.