It’s been almost exactly four years since the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the massively successful sequel to Ryan Coogler’s massively successful Black Panther. Marvel has not officially put a third Black Panther film on its release slate, but it seems there is one in the works after all. In a recent interview, talking about the movies he’ll make before he retires, Denzel Washington just offhandedly mentioned that Coogler is writing a part for him.
Washington is currently starring in Gladiator II (pictured above), and is the high point of the movie’s trailers by a mile. While on a press tour for that film, he listed off his pre-retirement plans for Australia’s Today: “I played Othello at 22. I am about to play Othello at 70. After that, I am playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello, After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”
No one wants to think about Washington retiring, but that is quite a run to go out on. The Othello he’s about to play is an upcoming Broadway version co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal. No details have been announced about the Steve McQueen film, but the role of Hannibal will be in a historical drama from director Antoine Fuqua—who also directed Washington in his Oscar-winning role in 2002’s Training Day.
When Denzel Washington won the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was one of the many people who paid tribute to Washington’s body of work, saying, “There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington… because my whole cast, that generation, stands on your shoulders.”
