‘Black Panther’s Danai Gurira Will Get Her Own Disney Plus Series
The world of Wakanda continues to expand. In addition to the upcoming Black Panther big-screen sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, due in theaters next year, there’s now word that one of the key supporting characters from the first film — Danai Gurira’s Okoye — will also be getting her own spinoff TV series on Disney+.
The news first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, on a list of influential Hollywood lawyers. The entry on attorney Jamie Mandelbaum says he “brokered a deal for actress Danai Gurira to not only reprise her role as Okoye in the upcoming Black Panther sequel but also in an origin spinoff series for Disney+.”
In Black Panther, Gurira’s Okoye was the leader of the Dora Milaje, the loyal and brave warriors who served as T’Challa’s personal bodyguards and elite fighting unit. She went on to appear again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame during Thanos’ invasion of Wakanda. The Marvel Comics version of the character has appeared in Black Panther comics since the 1990s. Gurira is no stranger to television; she previously starred as Michonne on eight seasons of The Walking Dead on AMC.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently scheduled to open in theaters on July 8, 2022. The role of T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman in the first film, will not be recast. It is not clear yet who will become the new Black Panther in the sequel. The next Marvel Disney+ series is Loki, which premieres on June 9. The full list of confirmed and dated Phase Four Marvel Cinematic Universe projects is below: