Wakanda has its next Black Panther. Ryan Coogler took the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday night to announce Black Panther 3, confirming that he is returning to direct and that David Jonsson has been cast as Prince T’Challa II. The film arrives in theaters on December 15, 2028.
Coogler was joined on stage by Letitia Wright and Winston Duke, both returning as Shuri and M’Baku. Setting up the reveal, Coogler reminded the room that the previous film introduced the son of the character Chadwick Boseman played, then told the crowd that in this one the boy grows up and comes of age. Jonsson walked out to a standing ovation, with sections of the hall breaking into Wakanda chants.
“Thank you to this amazing family that I have the honor and the privilege and the blessing to join,” Jonsson said, adding that he did not want to say too much because he would rather let the screen do the talking.
The Casting Happened Six Months Ago
According to Empire, Jonsson was quietly cast roughly six months before the announcement and had to sit on the news the entire time. He recounted Coogler calling him and saying he felt it in his soul, that Jonsson was the guy and the next Black Panther. Keeping a secret of that size through an entire convention run is no small feat, and the reaction in Hall H suggested it had held.
Jonsson is a recent breakout with a fast-growing résumé. Disney audiences know him from 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus, where he played the synthetic Andy, and he has also drawn strong notices for the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk and for his work as Gus Sackey across the first two seasons of Industry. The Hollywood Reporter also reported from the panel that Black Panther 3 will shoot on 70mm.
A Genuine Passing Of The Torch
The announcement resolves a question fans have circled since Boseman’s death in 2020, which came while Coogler was still working on the sequel. Wright’s Shuri took up the mantle in Wakanda Forever, and the casting of an adult T’Challa II reads as the franchise finally handing the role to a new lead rather than working around the absence.
It also pays off the closing moments of Wakanda Forever, which revealed that T’Challa had a son living in Haiti with Nakia, played by Lupita Nyong’o. The boy went by Toussaint in public and carried the Wakandan name T’Challa in private. Marvel has now aged him up and placed him at the center of the franchise’s future.
Speaking to press afterward, Winston Duke said he hopes to extend Jonsson the same grace he was given when he joined the original film, adding that he trusts Jonsson as an artist and trusts the people who chose him. The news follows reporting earlier this year that the sequel was heading into pre-production before the end of 2026. Full details are available at Marvel.
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