On the heels of his first Marvel Studios film, 2018’s Oscar-winning Black Panther, writer-director Ryan Coogler was tasked with a near-impossible follow-up. Having already penned a draft of the film’s sequel prior to the death of friend and star Chadwick Boseman, Coogler returned to the drawing board to craft a story that would both honor the late legend, and also continue the journey for the film’s strong cast of characters. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, fans will mourn for and celebrate the Black Panther’s life, and be introduced to all-new adversaries and allies as Wakanda prepares to defend itself for battle. In the end, the cast and crew pulled together an emotionally-charged sequel that’s only issue seems to be that there was too much good material to fit into a concise feature-length production.

Sitting down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Coogler discussed Wakanda Forever prior-to and post-edits, whether fans will be seeing any deleted scenes, and what type of projects he’s looking forward to doing in the future. He also shares his thoughts on Michael B. Jordan’s upcoming film Creed III, and how Terminator 2 inspired his writing for antagonists like Tenoch Huerta’s Namor the Sub-Mariner in Wakanda Forever.

COLLIDER: I want to start with a sincere congratulations for doing the impossible. But you've been talking all day about yourself and now I'm going to change it up. I am curious, what was it like watching Creed III for the first time, and what notes did you give Michael?

RYAN COOGLER: I mean, I'm not answering that, bro. I'm not answering that. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, I'll answer what it was like. I'll answer that. Fantastic. That's what it was like. I was filled with a lot of pride for Mike [B. Jordan], for Jonathan [Majors], for Tessa [Thompson], for Phylicia [Rashad], and for the young star that everybody's about to meet that plays Amara. I was filled with a deep, deep, deep sense of pride. And for my baby brother, who wrote the script. Along with Zach Baylin, who wrote King Richard. I was just proud of them all. And I called Mike and told him. I'm not going to get into the notes.

I'm messing around. But I heard it turned out great.

COOGLER: They're still working on it, man. But I think it's a unique movie. Yeah.

I'm curious for your career going forward. You have done these huge movies, and I'm curious if you are interested in doing something like a Secret Wars or another big Marvel project, or are you interested in doing a smaller, more personal film?

COOGLER: Yeah. I mean, look, bro, I'm a husband and a dad now, so I'm trying to live a long time, you know what I'm saying? I hope to work a long time. And I love making movies, it fills me with a sense of joy that I hope every human can find in their life. I hope can maintain that joy and make more things of various sizes. But truth be told, right now I'm just focusing on this and getting this done because it's still a lot of work to do before this comes out to the world. And once that's over, I'm going to sit and think about what's next.

One of the things that I really commend you on one both films is having a great villain. Both times I feel like I understand their motivation and I believe in what they're saying. For you, what's the secret in creating a great villain?

COOGLER: Wow. Actually, for me, I don't see them as villains. I think antagonist is probably…

Yeah, I said the wrong word.

COOGLER: No, I think that word's fine. I don't try to govern people's words, you know what I'm saying?

No, I should have said antagonist and not villain. I totally agree.

COOGLER: Yeah. But that's kind of like how I think about them. I think about them as, you know, this is a character that's going to come in conflict with my protagonist. It'd be interesting if they want the same things, but because of who they are, and what shaped them, they want to get those things in different ways and their means come in conflict with each other. It comes to a head. That's kind of like how movies I like are structured.

Terminator 2 is a big inspiration for this movie. Big time. You think about what T-1000 wants, and what Arnold Schwarzenegger's robot wants. They both went John Connor, but T-1000 wants to kill him, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character wants to protect him. That's the movie. I look at it like that, and also try to spend time with them. Not too much, you know what I'm saying? But enough that you understand where they're coming from and that you believe them when they make threats.

That's what makes Namor, I think, so cool in the books. In most publishing runs of him, he's very arrogant. But you also know he has the capability to do what he's saying he's going to do. He walks in in his underwear and says, "Hey, I'm going to kill everybody." But you believe it because you know he is capable of it. So we wanted to bring that same kind of swagger to the cinematic version of him, but also give it the detail that you would recognize in a Black Panther movie.

I'm obsessed with the editing process because that's where it all comes together.

COOGLER: We have some great ones, man. Like Michael Shawver, Kelley Dixon, Jen Lame. Fantastic.

I want to ask you a specific question though. What did you learn from early friends and family screenings, or test screenings, that impacted the finished version of this?

COOGLER: Man, you’re asking some detailed process questions. What did we learn? This movie was big, it had a lot of moving parts. The editors delivered an assembly that was very long, as per usual, so we were really looking for what to cut. That gave us some really great insight in terms of that. In terms of making trims, and what things could go wholesale, what things felt like they lost them a bit. We try to show those cuts early with limited music, because music oftentimes has the ability to make things that are longer feel shorter, and we didn't want to hide anything in those versions. So it was helpful in terms of making the film more concise.

Nate [Moore] mentioned that you had a number of really cool deleted scenes. What do I need to do to get them either on Disney+, or how can I see them?

COOGLER: Yeah, I think it'll be there. Yeah. Once the film is released on home video, you'll see that stuff. Yeah, some great ones.

With the deleted scenes, did you have 15 minutes of stuff that you loved, or 30 minutes of stuff that you loved?

COOGLER: I don't have a number, but it was a lot. I love basically everything we shot. It's always the challenge, man, with any creative medium, is the editing process. What to take away and what to leave.

Anytime you want to show the extended cut, let me know.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters November 11. Check out Collider's interview with one of the film's stars, Danai Gurira, below: