'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' to halt production after Letitia Wright's injury on set

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," an upcoming sequel to Marvel's 2018 hit "Black Panther," has temporarily halted production after star Letitia Wright suffered an injury on set earlier this year, USA TODAY has confirmed.

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to share the news Friday.

In August, a Marvel spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press that Wright was hospitalized after sustaining minor injuries while filming a stunt for the "Black Panther" sequel. The movie was filming in Boston at the time after starting production in Atlanta in late June.

The spokesperson told the AP at the time that the incident involving Wright happened while filming a stunt and that Wright was expected to be released from the hospital soon. 

According to THR and Entertainment Tonight, Wright, 28, has been recovering in London since the news of her hospitalization while the production has filmed around her character, the young Wakandan tech genius Shuri. The outlets add that production will pause starting the week of Thanksgiving and restart early next year.

USA TODAY has reached out to Disney for comment.

"Wakanda Forever" is the first "Black Panther" film since original star Chadwick Boseman died in August 2020 at age 43 after a private battle with colon cancer.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced in December that the sequel would not recast Boseman’s T'Challa character.

"Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and an inspirational individual who affected all of our lives," Feige said at the time. "His portrayal of T'Challa the Black Panther is iconic and transcends any iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel's past."

"Wakanda Forever," again directed by Ryan Coogler, will see the return many of the stars of the Oscar-nominated "Black Panther," including Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba and Angela Bassett.

Duke told USA TODAY in July that filming "Wakanda Forever" without Boseman was "really hard for me to talk about because it's also incredibly fresh. I miss my friend. And at the end of the day, the public has lost someone to look up to and someone to see themselves through." But Duke also mentioned that the returning cast and filmmaker are working on "something really beautiful and very special."

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Contributing: Brian Truitt