Winston Duke opens up about how Chadwick Boseman’s death affected the Black Panther 2 set

With a new trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuting Monday – along with tickets going on sale – Winston Duke is opening up about Chadwick Boseman’s absence.

Boseman starred in the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther, one of Marvel’s most successful films ever, though he would die just two years later from colon cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2016 but never made public.

Duke, 35, opened up about the loss of Boseman and how it was felt daily on the set of the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in theaters Nov. 11.

Boseman played T’Challa, who is cast on the throne of his homeland of Wakanda when his father T’Chaka dies.

Duke played M’Baku in the first film and will return for the sequel, revealing on the Jemele Hill is not bothered podcast how they coped with his loss.

“That’s something we have to struggle with on set on a daily basis because there was a gaping hole in his presence,” Duke said.

‘You felt it every day. You felt he wasn’t there,” Duke added, reminiscing about his time with Boseman on the Black Panther set.

“He was a very gentle presence of strength, power and scope. You knew he was there, but he didn’t have to say anything,” Duke said.

“He wasn’t walking around with a big ego… You don’t realize the impact they have when they’re there,” Duke continued.

“But if they aren’t, it’s obvious. You feel it intrinsically and that was the experience on set every day for a year,” he added.

Director Ryan Coogler added a similar sentiment in a recent interview, saying, “I think this movie has the mist of loss about it, and anamorphic lenses distort the image a bit.”

“Sometimes when you go through a big loss, it can distort your view of the world,” the director added.

“What we were looking for was to just make it tangible, even if it felt like a dream,” Coogler continued.

“The movie should feel like a really wild dream you’d have, but everything felt like it was really there,” he added.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduces beloved Marvel character Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta), leader of the underwater kingdom of Talocan.