Damson Idris Hints He's Talked with Marvel About Taking Over Black Panther Role Following Chadwick Boseman's Death

As Ryan Coogler works to bring MCU fans a third installment in the Black Panther franchise, casting speculation grows around the superhero movie.

via: EW

Damson Idris is adding further fuel to those rumors that he may be taking over the role of T’Challa, famously played onscreen by the late Chadwick Boseman, in Black Panther 3.

While visiting Today on Wednesday, the 33-year-old F1: the Movie actor was asked to participate in a game in which he answered a series of yes or no questions about what he’s got coming up next in his career. “There’s some speculation out there in the universe that you could be cast as the next Black Panther,” co-anchor Craig Melvin said. “Have you had any conversations about that? Yes or no?”

Idris let out a groan in response. “Yes-no!” He shouted, trying his best to cheekily sidestep the question.

Melvin wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily. “By the way, the yes-no means yes,” he teased, to which Idris replied, “Uh, it could mean no!”

But "it probably means yes," Melvin said. He added, “If they asked, would you say yes?”

Idris didn’t hesitate with his response. “Yes,” he confirmed.

Rumors about Marvel potentially recasting T’Challa first began to swirl back in January, when an InSneider report asserted that they were considering the idea despite the studio previously stating that they would not recast the role following Boseman's death.

That same month, Idris landed himself in the right smack dab in the middle of the online discourse when he replied to a Twitter post that claimed he’d “reportedly turned down the role of Black Panther.”

In his since-deleted response, which was shared by Comicbookmovie.com, Idris sarcastically responded, “Yes sir. I turned down 007, A co-lead film with Daniel Day Lewis and an Eddie Murphy biopic too. 🙃”

Black Panther 3 producer Nate Moore later shot down the casting rumors when speaking with Entertainment Weekly in February.

"I know there's been a lot of chatter online about casting and villains. None of that's true,” he said. “We just haven't gotten there yet, to be honest, but I am very excited to start those conversations hopefully this year."

At the time, Moore added that he couldn’t confirm or deny whether or not they were “open to recasting” the role of T’Challa until they had solidified the film’s storyline.

“It certainly wasn't our instinct for Wakanda Forever,” he continued. “I’ll never say never to anything, but it's too early to talk about any of that stuff. We have to figure out what the story's going to be."

After years of playing T'Challa across multiple Marvel films, Boseman died at age 43 following a quiet, 4-year battle with cancer in 2020. He and his character were both mourned in the subsequent Black Panther sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with T'Challa's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) taking over the mantle as the Wakandan superhero at the end of the film.

Watch Idris discuss his potential Black Panther involvement in the clip above.