Winston Duke and Michaela Coel on filming Wakanda Forever without the late Chadwick Boseman

Michaela Coel andWinston Duke have opened up about what it was like filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever without late star Chadwick Boseman. 

The pair are set to talk about the impact of Chadwick’s death on filming during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One on Friday.

Speaking to Graham, Winston, 35, said that while it was great to reunite with the cast, ‘Chadwick left this huge gaping hole, which was really hard to fill and you really felt it.’

‘It was really just melancholic to step back into the shoes of it all,’ he said. 

He went on to say he visited Chadwick’s grave and ‘asked for his blessing’.

‘Visiting his grave to say goodbye formally and ask his blessing was really great to help deal with it because it was such a surprise – none of us knew that he was sick and we were only weeks away from shooting when we heard of his passing,’ he said. 

Tragic: In August 2020, Black Panther star Chadwick died at age 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer

‘The movie is deeply about grief and how hard and messy it is, there is no pretty perfect way through it, and you are changed for ever by it.’ 

Michaela added:  ‘For me visiting the graveside allowed me to not just see Chadwick from a Marvel perspective but to understand this was a friend to this cast and it was a real human loss.’

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Earlier this week, Lupita Nyong’o revealed what it was like filming without Chadwick, saying ‘it was hollow’.

Speaking to Graham, Winston, 35, said that while it was great to reunite with the cast, ‘Chadwick left this huge gaping hole, which was really hard to fill and you really felt it’

‘It was hollow. It was very evident that he was missing and we were all feeling it, but also we had each other, so we were able to lean into each other, it was actually the only way to go forward I imagine was to lean into it and be there for each other,’ the actress, 39, said on Good Morning America.

‘It was good to be making this with a bunch of people who knew him, who had experienced his light and his love and so we could commiserate and really lean on each other,’ she added.

In August 2020, Black Panther star Chadwick died at age 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer.

‘It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman. Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV,’ the family said in a statement at the time.

‘A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much.’

The family revealed several of his films, including Marshall, Da 5 Bloods, and August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, were filmed ‘during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy’.

Star: Chadwick is pictured in Black Panther shortly before his death