Black Panther 3 Sets Dec. 15, 2028 Date, Casts The Long Walk’s David Jonsson as New Hero
Marvel Studios confirmed Black Panther 3 during its Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, revealing a December 15, 2028 release date and casting The Long Walk star David Jonsson as T’Challa’s grown son. Director Ryan Coogler took the stage to announce that not only is Black Panther 3 hitting theaters on December 15, 2028, but David Jonsson will play T’Challa’s grown son who was introduced at the end of Wakanda Forever.
The announcement caps years of speculation since Kevin Feige first confirmed a third instalment was in the works, and it gives the Wakanda saga its clearest direction yet: a coming-of-age story built around the next generation of Black Panther.
T’Challa’s Son Grows Up and Claims the Mantle
The character Jonsson is playing was introduced as a young child in the closing scene of 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, living with his mother Nakia in Haiti. According to reporting on the panel, T’Challa comes of age in the new movie with eyes on the crown of Wakanda.
Coogler addressed the character’s arc directly on stage, telling the Hall H crowd that the film picks up years after Wakanda Forever’s ending. As reported by Seat42F, “The last time we got to make a movie, we introduced a character who is the son of the character that the great Chadwick Boseman played, our T’Challa,” Coogler said, adding that in the new film the character grows up.
Jonsson, best known before this for headlining the 2025 Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk and for his breakout turn in Alien: Romulus, thanked Coogler and Feige on stage after receiving a standing ovation from the Hall H audience, per Seat42F’s account of the reveal. He kept plot specifics under wraps, saying he preferred to “let the screen do the talking.”
Letitia Wright, Winston Duke and Denzel Washington Round Out the Cast
Letitia Wright is confirmed to reprise her role as Shuri, the character who took up the Black Panther mantle at the end of Wakanda Forever following Chadwick Boseman’s death in 2020. Winston Duke is also returning as M’Baku, with both actors appearing alongside Coogler and Jonsson at the Hall H panel, according to Deadline and Variety’s coverage of the announcement.
Denzel Washington’s involvement in the threequel was also reconfirmed at the panel. Denzel Washington also is in the cast as previously announced, though his exact role has still not been disclosed publicly. Washington had previously said Coogler was crafting a role written specifically for him.
Shot Entirely on Celluloid Film, a First for the MCU
Beyond casting, Coogler revealed a notable production detail: Black Panther 3 will be shot on large-format film stock rather than digitally. Coogler also revealed on stage that BP3 will be shot entirely on larger format celluloid film — a first for the MCU. Trade outlets including The Hollywood Reporter noted Feige backed up the format choice at the panel.
The first Black Panther film, released in 2018, remains a landmark for the genre. Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa in the first “Black Panther,” died of colon cancer at age 43 in 2020, when Coogler was working on the sequel, and that original film took in $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office… It earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, the first superhero movie to do so. Its 2022 sequel, Wakanda Forever, grossed a further $859 million worldwide.
Black Panther’s Screen Reboot Lands as the Hero Headlines Marvel Rivals
For gamers, the timing is notable. Black Panther is already a fixture in NetEase’s hero shooter Marvel Rivals, and Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel this year doubled as a showcase for its gaming slate alongside its film calendar, with Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel Rivals both featured prominently at the same SDCC event where Black Panther 3 was unveiled.
A live-action reboot centred on a new T’Challa gives Marvel Games an obvious hook for future in-game content, cosmetics or narrative tie-ins tied to the character’s redesign, following a pattern the studio has already leaned on with other MCU-adjacent skins and events. Whether NetEase or Marvel Games move to reflect T’Challa II in Marvel Rivals ahead of the film’s late-2028 release remains unconfirmed, but the overlap between Hall H’s movie and gaming reveals underscores how tightly Marvel now coordinates its franchises across screens and consoles.
Read also: Marvel’s Wolverine, Marvel Rivals Headline SDCC 2026 as Hall H Reveals Ghost Rider, Black Panther 3
No further casting or plot details have been released, and Marvel has not confirmed when principal photography will begin. With the film not due until December 2028, expect Marvel Studios to keep specifics under wraps for some time yet, much as it did throughout the years-long gap between Wakanda Forever’s release and Saturday’s confirmation.
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