LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The sequel to Disney’s “Black Panther” movie is shutting down production for at least a month to allow star Letitia Wright to recover from an injury, Hollywood publications reported on Friday.
Wright, who played Shuri in the predominantly Black superhero movie, suffered an injury in August during a stunt and needs more time to heal, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety said. The nature of her injury has not been revealed but was initially described as minor.
A spokesman for Disney said production on “Black Panther: Wakanda” will pause the week of Nov. 22 and is expected to resume in early 2022.
The halt in production is not expected to affect the release of the movie, which is scheduled for November 2022.
Wright, 28, played the tech genius and younger sister of the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa in “Black Panther,” one of the biggest movies of 2018 with a global box office of $1.3 billion. Boseman was not recast after his unexpected death from cancer in 2020.
Wright is expected to take on a bigger role in the sequel although details of the plot have not been revealed.
The Hollywood Reporter said filming had continued with other scenes and actors after Wright’s injury in August but director Ryan Coogler had shot all footage that his crew is able to without Wright.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)
