I’m pretty sure Michaela Coel is the next black panther

We’re about a month away from the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and so far even just the trailers have made me cry because they show, in a gentle and dignified way, a nation mourning the death of King T’Challa, the Black Panther. The first trailer, set on a mashup of Tems’ version of “No Woman No Cry” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” culminates emotionally with Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda, T’Challa’s mother, proclaiming, “I didn’t given everything ?”

Ramonda’s grief – harrowing and shrill – mirrors our grief at the loss of Chadwick Boseman, whose work on and off screen edified and celebrated black lives before he died of cancer at just 43 years old. In the wake of Black Panther, Boseman took it upon himself to become an avatar of “black male dignity” and welcomed being a symbol for black people who needed someone to look up to. In the first trailer for Wakanda forever, T’Challa’s death is above Wakanda, as is Boseman’s death above the sequel’s premiere. Who can level up with the Gravitas required to fill in T’Challa’s footsteps?

How about Michaela Coel? Please understand: I have no proof that Coel will be the next Black Panther. But I am convinced that she will be. Let me present my evidence.

First, Shuri is too obvious. She is the most direct contender. Everyone thinks it will be Shuri. Some people think the new trailer even confirms it’s Shuri (they’re wrong). And I get it: It’s true that audiences have fallen in love with Letitia Wright as Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister and the genius behind many of Wakanda’s scientific and technological innovations.

Shuri is great! But while she has several compelling fight scenes Black Panther, Shuri is not positioned as a warrior. It’s possible that the Black Panther title will fall to her immediately after T’Challa’s death – but even if she does, the first one Black Panther has already laid out the process by which the tribes of Wakanda can compete for the Black Panther title, so making Shuri the Black Panther by default would be too obvious a play. I can’t think of a greater disappointment Wakanda forever provides the obvious answer. Why would director Ryan Coogler spend so much time laying out the Wakanda rules for confronting Black Panthership in the first film, and then not apply those rules when the role opens up?

Off-screen, there’s also the thorny matter of Wright’s reported anti-vax views. She’s far from the only celebrity articulating such ideas, but she plays a character who’s explicitly out to celebrate scientific achievement. Elevating Shuri to Black Panther could draw unwanted attention to Wright’s comments, and indeed, the very speculation that she’s the successor has angered fans.

Secondly, there are many mysteries surrounding the casting of Michaela Coel. She is only billed as “Aneka, a Wakandan warrior”. At first glance, this is not unusual – many characters are added to casts with brief descriptions. But Coel is simple too large to be included as a distant, insignificant character in an already star-studded film. Since her breakthrough with chewing gum and universal acclaim for her Emmy-winning HBO show i can destroy you Coel has proven she has the acting charisma to wear the mantle. The vague description of Aneka only serves to raise more questions. What is Coel doing in this film? I’ll tell you what she’s doing: she’s THE NEXT BLACK PANTHER.

Third, Coel is on the cover of the November issue of Fashion! A month before the release of Wakanda forevercoel is the only star of the film on the cover of a major magazine. In the accompanying Vogue profile, Coel reveals new details about her character, a queer woman and a combat instructor. Coel is an odd choice for a cover star – this is a cast that boasts well-known Oscar calibers like Bassett and Lupita Nyong’o! It is very interesting that it fell to Coel to carry the film’s publicity weight.

I’m right about that. I’m happy about that too! Coel’s acting skills would enhance the role in much the same way as Boseman’s — let’s remember Black Panther is the only Marvel film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar — and it would cement the franchise’s role as a transformative moment for blackness. If I’m wrong when the film comes out, please don’t come to me because I’ll find out the same day as you. But that won’t be necessary. ●