Daniel Kaluuya was originally meant to return as his MCU character W’Kabi for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ but due to scheduling conflicts with Nope, he had to back out of the sequel. However, despite the lack of W’Kabi’s presence in the film, we are still being treated to concept art which reveals what we may have missed.
In the first Black Panther film, W’Kabi ends up siding with Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger and inevitably gets on the bad side of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa and Danai Gurira’s Okoye. You may remember that W’Kabi was the head of the Border Tribe, plus was also husband to Okoye, and had a full army of rhinos at his disposal.
Unused W’Kabi Scene Details For Wakanda Forever
In the latest concept art from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever via artist Niek Schlosser, W’Kabi is revealed to be imprisoned and tasked to take care of the Border Tribe’s Rhinos.
This has been confirmed by Niek Schlosser to have been in the pipeline for Daniel Kaluuya’s involvement in the second instalment of the Black Panther franchise. He was going to be in a prison of sorts while being watched by none other than the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s special forces who are led by Okoye throughout the majority of the two films.
It wouldn’t have helped that W’Kabi lost Okoye’s faith in him during the first instalment when he decided to team up with Killmonger to help take over Wakanda from the Black Panther. However, maybe W’Kabi’s involvement would have built up to a redemption arc, and possibly even seeing him in the final battle itself.
No official announcement on if Daniel Kaluuya will be returning as W’Kabi has been made, as of yet, but clearly, the studio has or had plans for his character – so maybe we will get to see him again someday in a future project.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming to Disney Plus on February 1st, 2023.