Damson Idris Reponds To Rumor That He Turned Down Marvel’s Offer To Play New T’Challa

As expected, the recent report that Marvel Studios’ is currently searching for an actor to take over from the late Chadwick Boseman as a new take on T’Challa in the MCU has led to several names being churned out by the rumor mill.

Damson Idris, the up-and-coming British Snowfall star who was reportedly up for the role of John Stewart in Lanterns prior to Aaron Pierre landing the gig, was said to be one of the actors who passed on the opportunity to play T’Challa, and was asked about the rumor on social media.

Idris jokingly responded (though not everyone picked up on the sarcasm) that he also “turned down 007, A co-lead film with Daniel Day Lewis and an Eddie Murphy biopic.”

Pierre is also said to have been approached for this part, and we’ve heard that he was the actor who passed that was mentioned in the original report. If true, it could have been due to his Lanterns commitments, but that may not be the only factor.

Although the initial rumor suggested that Kevin Feige and co. were searching for a new actor to play a variant of the same character Boseman portrayed, it seems more likely that the studio is actually in the process of casting an actor for the role of the original T’Challa’s son (Toussaint, aka Prince T’Challa), who was introduced at the end of Wakanda Forever.

Whatever the case may be, it appears quite a few actors believe that accepting the role would be akin to replacing Boseman, and either feel it would be disrespectful to the beloved actor, or simply don’t want the responsibility of filling those particular shoes.

Whoever ends up accepting the role, the new T’Challa is expected to debut in one of the upcoming Avengers movies before going on to play a bigger part in Black Panther 3.

During a 2022 interview with the New York Times, director Ryan Coogler admitted that he’d be glad to stay on this franchise for “as long as folks will have me.”

“I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to work on these movies, bro. When I got asked to do the first one, it was like a moving train. I thank God every day that I was able to jump on it and meet these people, these actors, and to meet Chadwick during some of the last years of his life. I’ll do it as long as folks will have me. But I think it’s bigger than just me or Joe. Between the first and second movie, we made $2 billion at the box office, which is what matters the most to corporations. So I hope that it continues, man. I hope people are still making movies about Wakanda long after we’re gone.” 

Who would you like to see suit-up as the MCU’s new Black Panther?

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), 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 the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena, and Alex Livanalli.