Letitia Wright reacts to “Black Panther 3” bombshell and passing the mantle to David Jonsson’s Prince T’Challa

Ryan ColemanSun, July 26, 2026 at 4:09 AM UTC

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Letitia Wright in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’Credit: MarvelKey Points -

Letitia Wright is celebrating David Jonsson’s casting as T’Challa in Black Panther 3, which Ryan Coogler announced at Marvel’s Comic-Con 2026 panel.

“The news was really beautiful to hear because I have a personal connection to David,” Wright gushed in a post-panel chat with Entertainment Weekly.

“I’m going to have a really, a really good time,” Wright promised, before joking, “I’m going to pick on him so much.”

Letitia Wright is overjoyed to welcome David Jonsson into the family business.

The breakout star of Industry and The Long Walk stole the spotlight during Marvel’s Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 on Saturday. After Ryan Gosling was named the new Ghost Rider in a standalone film set for 2028 and a Dr. Doom backstory was teased in new footage from Avengers: Doomsday, Black Panther franchise director Ryan Coogler announced Jonsson as the new T’Challa in Black Panther 3.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly’s Gerrad Hall at the EW Comic-Con studio alongside her Doomsday costars minutes after the panel concluded, Wright gushed about the “beautiful” news, celebrating such a blessing coming to a “special person with a good heart.”

David Jonsson as Andy in ‘Alien: Romulus’Credit: Everett

“The news was really beautiful to hear because I have a personal connection to David,” Wright explained. “To see the full circle of that today, I’m still living in it. We’re both still checking in with each other about it.”

Wright first played the Wakandan princess Shuri in 2018’s Black Panther. In 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Shuri took on the mantle from her brother, Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, after Boseman’s 2020 death. The final minutes of Wakanda Forever then revealed that Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia had been secretly raising Touissant, her child with T’Challa. Black Panther 3 was bound to center on the young prince when his Wakandan name was revealed — T’Challa.

“She now has that mantle to pass on, and [that] guidance and the wisdom,” Wright teased. “I’m going to have a really, really good time, a lot of fun — and I’m going to pick on him so much.”

But Black Panther 3 won’t focus exclusively on Prince T’Challa. Fans can look forward to catching up with Shuri four years after the events of Wakanda Forever when Doomsday hits theaters on Dec. 18.

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“In terms of what Shuri means to him, you know, Shuri’s gone through so much,” she told EW. “And in this film, Doomsday, we see her growth, we see her fully in this position as Black Panther, but also just as a renewed woman, and powerful and strong — that leadership quality that she’s grown up around with Ramonda [Angela Bassett], her mother, and T’Challa, her brother.”

Wright gave voice to the feelings of fans across the MCU: “[It’s been] beautiful to see the arc of this character, in 2018, starting as this beautiful scientist in the lab just trying to help her big brother out, to just elevating and growing and now being a source of wisdom for her young nephew.”

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Jonsson grew visibly emotional amid the shouts and cheers for his casting during Saturday’s Marvel panel. “I want to say thank you so much. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, [Kevin Feige]. Thank you to this amazing family that I honor, [it’s] a privilege and blessing to join,” he said. “I don’t want to say too much because I want to let the screen do the talking, but believe me, the honor is entirely mine.”

The actor first garnered notice on the West End stage before breaking out as Augustus “Gus” Sackey in HBO’s Industry. He starred in 2024’s interstellar thriller Alien: Romulus and won rave reviews for his role as Pete McVries in the unsettling 2025 Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk.

With reporting by Gerrad Hall.

on Entertainment Weekly

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