Agreed, Why would they have any sort of back up plan in the event of something as untimely as an actor's death? Moreover, if Disney/Marvel had any heart at all (....), they would cancel any Black Panther sequels, since the original intent was to have Boseman reprise the role--not replace him. Since they are not re-casting him, or using the typically awful CG (CG Tarkin and Leia said, "we're video-gamey and rubbery all at the same time!"), they have to whip up some poor, off-screen fate for him, replaced by whoever. No one watching that would be able to shove aside the fact that Disney/Marvel desperately stepped over Boseman to keep their train running.
It seems to me that Chadwick Boseman was all about Legacy and passing things on to the next generation... such as his Howard University COmmencement speech. They also set a lot of things up to make it possible to move on.
The Akils and Ryan Coogler in their productions set up MANY strong characters, and some of whom could ALSO fulfill the title of the production.
ANd you know darn well just how much of a cultural impact Black Panther, the movie, had on the world. I mean, how many SHuri's have been inspired, for example? They sure wouldn't want to shut that down.
It's already been done on occasion for stuff already in production, like with Oliver Reed in Gladiator and Nancy Marchand in The Sopranos. Probably at least a little with Carrie Fisher in The Rise of Skywalker, though mostly that was digitally compositing her real performance into new settings, changing her wardrobe and the lighting, etc. But I think for the most part it's only something filmmakers would do when they had to, when it was the only way to complete a story in progress that depended on their presence. I don't see them commissioning whole new projects around CGI doubles. More likely they'd just recast, like the Harry Potter films did with Dumbledore.
It depends on the role. With Dumbledore, it was a little easier, as they just started with the first actor, and he had the big beard and robes, so he was a bit more interchangeable.
That won't work for Black Panther.
I don't believe for a second Boseman would want the Black Panther movies - as important as the first was to so many people - to just end for no other reason than that he isn't available anymore.
Obviously, CG is not the way forward, but recasting or writing T'Challa out of the story are perfectly reasonable options (though nothing is perfect).
I didn't necessarily just mean the actor dying when I said if something happened. I just meant if had to stop for any reason, if they were unavailable, or just decided they didn't want to do it any more, or any other reason that would cause them to stop. And I didn't mean anything in depth, just a basic idea of which characters they'd recast, which they'd write out, and which they'd just stop using.
The thing that brought it to mind for me was Babylon 5, where the creator has said that when he was developing the series he came up with a "trapdoor" for each character, as a way to write them out if the actor couldn't continue. I was just thinking with something as interconnected as the MCU that they could have put together a similar plan.
I don't they would have "intentionally" done so because there was zero indication they would have to worry about that with Chadwick Boseman. Butt they also
did create that trap door by having the Black Panther be a legacy, carried down over
generations. So they certainly could.
My dream of it would be that Nakia had married T'Challa prior to his death (maybe even pre-SNap), so that she would be eligible for the throne. She would be perfect for it... a fighter, but also a world citizen, making her the perfect monarch for leading Wakanda onto the world stage. (Also hinted at in the 1st movie)
I can also picture this happening because Shuri, as sister , is supposed to take control. With the Jabari now respect, M'Baku will refuse to challenge. But when they go to SHuri's tribe, before they say anything, she says "I accept the challnge of (SHuri's) tribe. I will battle you Nakia". And just when they start, SHuri purposely falls on the ground and taps out.
