Denzel Washington will also star in the next ‘Black Panther’ movie
Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty; Marvel/Disney
NEED TO KNOW
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David Jonsson will play T’Challa’s son in Black Panther 3, set to release on Dec. 15, 2028
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Ryan Coogler returns as director and co-writer after helming the first two Black Panther films
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Denzel Washington joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a role written specifically for him by Coogler
Director Ryan Coogler has chosen his next Black Panther!
David Jonsson was revealed as the new iteration of the iconic Marvel hero at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, July 25. The 32-year-old English actor will play T’Challa’s adult son in the third installment out Dec. 15, 2028. The sequel will follow Jonsson’s character as he comes of age.
Coogler, who directed the 2018 original and its hit sequel, 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is returning for the third film in his series.
Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa in the first Black Panther, died of colon cancer at age 43 in 2020, when Coogler was writing the sequel.
Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty
Following his death in August 2020, Coogler rewrote the script, reworking its story to focus on the titular king of Wakanda T’Challa’s sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright). At the end of 2022’s Wakanda Forever, Shuri becomes the next Black Panther. She will reprise her role as Shuri in the third film.
Credit: Marvel Studios
In December 2024, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed a third Black Panther was in the works, with Coogler set to return as director and co-writer. A month earlier, Denzel Washington let slip that he was joining the franchise — and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — during an interview on Australia Today, in which he listed Black Panther 3 as one of his upcoming projects.
Coogler confirmed the news himself in a June 2025 appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, saying that he wrote a part for the Oscar-winning icon specifically.
“Denzel is family at this point … I’ve been trying to work with him since day one,” he said. “I think he’s the greatest living actor, and in terms of what he means to our culture, forget about it. I’ve been talking to him about this for a long time.”
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The third Black Panther movie will film on 70mm and open in theaters Dec. 15, 2028.
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