Ryan Coogler has confirmed Black Panther 3 is on the way.
The Sinners filmmaker is working “hard” to complete his Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) trilogy and has admitted it will be his next project following the release of Sinners.
Speaking during the Sinners panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles on Saturday (15.11.25), he teased: “If it was anybody but you, I would say, ‘I can neither confirm or deny’.
“But we’re working on it hard. “So it’s next. Yes, it’s the next movie.”
During his appearance on the panel, Ryan explained he chose to step back from intimate biopics and franchise blockbusters to make Sinners in order to give back to cinema lovers around the world.
He said: “I think it was because, truly, the global filmgoing audience had given so much to me.
“I feel so blessed that at my age, each film that I’ve ever written indirectly has been released theatrically, has been released at some level internationally. And I don’t take that for granted because sitting in the theatre was where I fell in love with movies.
“This artform has changed my life, has changed my family’s lives, [allowed] me to travel the world. I got my first passport because a movie I made in film school got accepted into a festival abroad. Film has literally changed the arc of my life.”
And amid labour disputes in the industry, the 39-year-old filmmaker was keen to create something that came from his own heart, rather than an established franchise or using someone else’s stories.
He said: “There was a lot of anxiety about the business, whether the business was going to go away or not through the changing viewing habits.
“And I realised, man, if the movies stopped, I would’ve never done something that was truly totally me, and that made me sad.
“It was really something where I didn’t want to be chickens***.
“I didn’t want to have hid behind all these different franchises … and not ever really, truly showed all of myself in a cinematic context. …
“I grew up loving weird movies, horror cinema and literature. I hadn’t made anything in that space, and I felt like I hadn’t made enough moments that were surprising. Even though I had done that before, I wanted to make a movie full of them.”
Chadwick Boseman had portrayed T’Challa in Ryan Coogler’s 2018 blockbuster Black Panther, and had also appeared elsewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
After a secret battle with stage III colon cancer, the actor passed away in August 2020 at the age of 43.
Following his death, the 2022 Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, saw the mantle get passed to Letitia Wright – who portrays T’Challa’s sister Shuri.
Damson Idris was linked with the role of T’Challa in the planned third movie, and previously refused to confirm or deny the speculation.
During an appearance on the Today show, presenter Craig Melvin asked Idris if he had spoken to Marvel about becoming the next Black Panther, to which the actor said: “Yes, no!”
The Snowfall star was then quizzed on if he would accept an offer to play Black Panther, and he simply replied: “Yes!”
