Marvel answered a question fans have been sitting with since 2022: who inherits the Black Panther mantle after T’Challa. On Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, director Ryan Coogler gave them a name.
David Jonsson is the new Black Panther, playing the grown son of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. Coogler made the announcement during Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel, bringing Jonsson on stage alongside returning cast members Letitia Wright and Winston Duke to confirm “Black Panther 3” for December 15, 2028.
What Coogler and Jonsson Said
“Thank you to this amazing family that I have the honor and privilege and the blessing to join,” Jonsson told the crowd, with sections of Hall H breaking into Wakanda chants as he spoke. He kept the moment brief by design. “I don’t want to say too much, because I want to let the screen do the talking,” he added.
Jonsson will play Prince T’Challa II, a character first introduced as a young child in the post-credits scene of 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the son T’Challa had with Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia before his death. Marvel hasn’t detailed exactly how the character ages into adulthood between films, though some kind of time jump is likely.
Fast Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| New Black Panther | David Jonsson, as T’Challa II |
| Director | Ryan Coogler |
| Announced | July 25, 2026, San Diego Comic-Con Hall H |
| Release date | December 15, 2028 |
| Format | Shooting on 70mm |
| Character introduced | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) post-credits scene |
| Character’s parents | T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) |
| Returning cast | Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M’Baku) |
| New cast addition | Denzel Washington |
| Black Panther (2018) box office | $1.3 billion worldwide |
| Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) box office | $859 million worldwide |
Who Is David Jonsson?
The 32-year-old actor has built his profile over the past few years through HBO’s “Industry,” where he played Gus Sackey across its first two seasons, along with breakout roles in “The Long Walk” and “Alien: Romulus.” He also appeared in 2023’s “Rye Lane.” His casting places him at the center of one of Marvel’s most closely watched franchises just as his profile has been rising fastest.
A Franchise Built Around Loss
Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer in 2020 at age 43, partway through Coogler’s work on “Wakanda Forever.” That film dealt directly with T’Challa’s death rather than recasting the role, and closed with Nakia revealing their son to Shuri on a beach in Haiti — the scene “Black Panther 3” now picks up from. Letitia Wright, who took over the Black Panther mantle as Shuri by the end of “Wakanda Forever,” returns for the third film, as does Winston Duke’s M’Baku. Denzel Washington is also joining the cast, in a role Coogler has said he wrote specifically with the actor in mind.
The first “Black Panther” grossed $1.3 billion worldwide in 2018 and won three Oscars. “Wakanda Forever” followed in 2022 with an $859 million global run and a Costume Design Oscar for Ruth E. Carter, making her the first Black woman to win two Academy Awards. “Black Panther 3” arrives after next year’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” positioning Wakanda’s next chapter as a coming-of-age story rather than a direct continuation of T’Challa’s arc.
