British actress Letitia Wright is in recovery today after being injured during a stunt on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. A Marvel spokesperson confirmed to Variety on Wednesday that Wright was “receiving care in a [Boston] hospital” for the minor injury. The actress was released shortly after, CBS News is reporting.
Wright, is reprising her role as Shuri from the 2018 Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, the genius younger sister of the titular character T'Challa, who was played by the late Chadwick Boseman. The sequel is shooting primarily in Atlanta but cast and crew were filming scenes in Boston. The accident will reportedly have no bearing on the rest of the film’s shooting schedule.
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Though few details have been released about the cast and plot of the upcoming sequel, Ryan Coogler has also returned to direct. According to Variety, cast members Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba and Angela Bassett have also returned for Wakanda Forever. Coogler has confirmed that the character of T’Challa will not be recast in the film, following Boseman’s death from colon cancer last August.
Wright’s presence on set is also confirmation that the rumours that she was being replaced were wrong. The chatter started after it was announced that fellow British actress Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You, Chewing Gum) was joining the cast of Wakanda Forever.
TMZ reported last month that Wright may have been replaced by Coel due to backlash from her December 2020 Twitter posts where she re-shared a transphobic anti-vaccination video.
In the now-deleted video, the host and Christian YouTube personality Tomi Arayomi said that anyone who took the vaccine should “hope it doesn’t make extra limbs grow.” The video also included transphobic comments, and suggested that it was not humans who were contributing to climate change.
Wright defended herself at the time by tweeting that she was simply concerned about what was in the vaccine. “My ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies,” she said.
Wright has since deleted her social media accounts.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled to be released on July 8, 2022.