Actress Angela Bassett said that she was given “no warning” about the fate of her character in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
[Spoiler Alert!]
In the “Black Panther” sequel, Bassett has a huge role as her character, Ramonda, becomes the queen of Wakanda. Halfway through the film, Bassett dies trying to rescue a civilian, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne).
She confessed on Entertainment Weekly’s “The Awardist” podcast that no one at Marvel Studios, not even director Ryan Coogler, warned her about the plot twist concerning her character. She only found out while reading the script.
“I’m enjoying the script, I can’t wait to get to work, and then turn the page, and voila,” said Bassett. “It was an absolute surprise. No heads-up, no warning.”
She proceeded by saying, “I’m getting CPR, and I don’t make it. Oh, oh, I was distraught. Maybe that was the point.”
In an earlier interview with IndieWire, Bassett stated that she “objected” to her character’s death and believed that audiences would be turned off by the twist.
Bassett said, “I objected. Yeah, I was like, ‘Ryan, what are you doing? Why? You will rue the day! You will rue the demise of [Ramonda]. People are gonna be so upset.”
The “9-1-1” star revealed on the “Awardist” podcast that she had “made peace” with her character’s death by the time she shot the scene.
“It was such a wonderful shoot, and that’s not the first thing you shoot. So you have time to sort of process it and get into it,” said Bassett. “So it becomes like any other day – you want to do good work that day. And after you finish, it’s not the last day. You still have more to do. So that helps soothe you a little bit.”
“I was glad when the death scene was over because you were just wet and damp and moist for 14 hours, for 12 hours. I prefer to be completely submerged in the water than just wet and laying on the ground,” she added.
Bassett has earned praise for her “Black Panther” performance from critics and general audiences, landing her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
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