BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER Star Michaela Coel for Vogue Magazine

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“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” star Michaela Coel covers the November 2022 issue of Vogue magazine photographed by Malick Bodian and styled by Ib Kamara.

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For the actor, joining the ensemble cast was a wish fulfilled; she’d been one of the many young hopefuls who auditioned for the first Black Panther movie while she was still a student at the Guildhall drama school in London. “I think for a lot of people it was the first time we’d seen some sort of representation on a very mainstream platform about the magic of Africa, the magic of the people, our ancestors,” she says. “Coming here, you do feel something magical.”

The role Coel would play in the Black Panther sequel was still taking shape when Chadwick Boseman, who starred as the beloved titular superhero, died at the age of 43 after a long battle with colon cancer. When filming began last year, “it felt like the entire cast was processing grief,” she says. “There was a sense that we have to bring this baby home in the name of Chadwick. I thought to myself, I’m rolling up my sleeves and I’m getting in. I don’t need to be front and center, I’m here to support.”

[Photo Credit: Malick Bodian/Vogue Magazine]

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