The first trailer of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever made it abundantly clear that the fate of the African kingdom now rests on the shoulders of its women. As shown in the clip, after king T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) death Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) is in charge of the kingdom while we also see her in mourning along with Shuri and the rest of Wakanda. In a new interview with New York Times, Lupita Nyong'o, who plays Nakia in the franchise spoke of the importance of women in Wakanda and hopes that the world is “empowered” by it.
Wakandan women have proven their worth time and again be it Shuri (Letitia Wright) who turned out smarter than both Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) put together when it came to getting the mind stone out of Vision’s head. Okoye (Danai Gurira) who leads the Dora Milaje, MCU’s strongest set of special forces made up of women, leads them in both the battles of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Speaking about the egalitarian society of the fictional land, Nyong’o said, "The undervaluing of women because of their gender doesn't exist in Wakanda. We saw that in the first film, which is why it resonated.”
In the 2019 Black Panther, we saw Okoye and Nakia fighting shoulder to shoulder with T’Challa, protecting their king from any harm, as well as Shuri helping him throughout the movie with her genius. While the Dora Milaje last appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, to retrieve Zemo (Daniel Brühl) and ended up teaching John Walker (Wyatt Russell) a much-deserved lesson, Nyong’o confirms that the women of Wakanda will continue to build on the fact that gendered discrimination doesn’t exist in their kingdom saying, “this new film continues with the conceit that this is a world where those things don't exist.”
Wakanda Forever trailer showed us that Queen Ramonda is now sitting on the throne that once her husband and later her son occupied. Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye are seen taking charge against whatever threat that looms after the death of their beloved king, but Nyong’o reveals that “the question we're tackling is not their womanhood.” Instead, Wakanda Forever is examining these women’s “beliefs, passions, loves and arguments, and it creates a robust drama.” She adds, “Hopefully, the world as we know it watches and is empowered by it, despite itself.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will debut on November 11. Meanwhile, you can check out the trailer and synopsis below:
Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M'Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T'Challa's death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with Nakia and Everett Ross to forge a new path for their beloved kingdom.