Lupita Nyong’o Hasn’t Seen Black Panther Since Chadwick Boseman’s Death

While revisiting Marvel’s Black Panther for the first time since Chadwick Boseman’s death, Lupita Nyong’o was overcome with emotion.

The actor attended a Q&A event at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 14, where she was shown a scene from the 2018 movie featuring her late co-star. After becoming visibly emotional, Nyong’o told the audience she was “having a moment” as she hadn’t “seen the film since Chadwick died.”

“I watch this clip and I’m filled with grief,” she continued, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t know whether I’ll ever be done shedding my tears from losing my friend. But I’m like, we get to see him alive, and that’s so wonderful.”

The Academy Award winner went on to describe her grief as “love with no place to put it,” adding, “I don’t want to run away from the tears or the grief. You just live with it. That experience will never be separate from the love that was formed.”

Nyong’o played the character of Nakia in 2018’s Black Panther, starring opposite Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and the late Boseman, who played T’Challa, aka Black Panther himself. In August 2020, Boseman died at the age of 43 following a battle with colon cancer — a diagnosis he had been keeping private since 2016.

“Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV,” a statement announcing the actor’s passing read. “A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much.”

Lupita “Dreaded” Black Panther 2

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2022, Nyong’o admitted she wasn’t looking forward to working on the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as she “could not imagine” filming without Boseman.

“It was unfathomable to me,” she said. “But [director] Ryan [Coogler] managed to honor his life and his role in both the film and our lives with his moving, truthful, and clear vision.”

More recently, Nyong’o marked the fourth anniversary of Boseman’s death in August 2024 on Instagram. “Grief never ends. But it changes,” she wrote. “It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It’s the price of love... Remembering Chadwick Boseman. Forever.”