Daniel Kaluuya Not Returning for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya will not be returning for the upcoming Black Panther sequel due to scheduling conflicts he faced with Jordan Peele's sci-fi horror film, Nope. Jacqueline Coley of Rotten Tomatoes broke the news by confirming with the actor during an interview for Nope on her Twitter.

"Fresh from my Nope interview with Daniel Kaluuya he did not reprise his role in Black Panther 2 due to his schedule conflicts with Nope," the tweet said. "It's official he's not in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

Kaluuya played W'Kabi, the best friend and confidant of T'Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman) and the head of security for the Border Tribe in the first Black Panther film.

Wakanda Forever wrapped production back in March and has a scheduled November 11 release date. After Boseman's passing in 2020, Marvel announced they would not recast the role of T'Challa and the sequel would instead focus on other characters from Wakanda. It should be noted that in the comics, the mantle of Black Panther was passed at one time to Shuri, T'Challa's sister, played by Letitia Wright in the film series.

Boseman recently received a posthumous Emmy nomination for his voicework in Marvel's What If...? series on Disney+.