The MCU factory is closed with a sign outside reading “Under Construction.”

There have been a few leaks here and there, but few more intriguing than the buzz around a potential Denzel Washington role in the yet-to-be-confirmed Black Panther 3. There’s also growing speculation about whether we’ll ever see a formal ing of the Black Panther torch. One of the franchise’s stars, Lupita Nyong’o, has finally given fans a glimpse of what the cast might be thinking.

Let’s be real — the MCU’s prime days are behind us. Even high-level executives would likely it as much. Misguided attempts to keep fans engaged in a post-Thanos world led to criticism over the rushed and overcrowded nature of recent projects. For what it’s worth, Marvel seems to have taken these criticisms seriously, focusing on streamlined, linear storytelling reminiscent of what first won fans over. With the warm reception to trailers for Fantastic Four: First Steps and Captain America: Brave New World, the MCU might just be buying itself some much-needed goodwill.

It’s also clear that Marvel has opted to move forward rather than lean on tried-and-tested franchises that have historically held up their universe. Thor is on an indefinite break, there’s a new Captain America, James Gunn has moved to DC, and even returning stars like Robert Downey Jr. are playing entirely new roles. Black Panther, however, exists in a unique purgatory within the MCU. Introduced at the tail-end of the Infinity Saga, it was clearly meant to be a foundational pillar for Marvel’s future. But Chadwick Boseman’s tragic ing changed everything.

Director Ryan Coogler even rewrote the entire script for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, turning it into a moving tribute to one of our screens’ most graceful stars. Fans and critics were touched, but as time ed, many began wondering whether the franchise would eventually the mantle to a new Black Panther. Online discussions buzzed with speculative casting ideas for Boseman’s replacement.

The excitement only grew when Denzel Washington hinted in an interview that Coogler was writing a role for him in the next Black Panther movie. Coogler, currently busy with his vampire film starring Michael B. Jordan, Sinners, has remained elusive on the subject. Fortunately, Lupita Nyong’o, currently on the awards circuit campaigning for her animated film The Wild Robot, addressed the rumors during an appearance on The Awardist, Entertainment Weekly’s podcast. Nyong’o gave a characteristically polished response:

“Well, I won’t believe it until I hear it from Ryan himself, because what if Denzel has a role and I don’t? Let me stay humble and ignorant until the leader of the pack actually says something.”

Marvel producer Nate Moore has also confirmed that there are no current talks of recasting T’Challa, with all attention focused on the next Avengers film. Only after that will they consider Black Panther 3.

The most logical step seems to be making Shuri (Letitia Wright) — whom audiences have already grown fond of — the franchise’s next Black Panther. Wright might have fallen out of favor during the depths of the pandemic due to her vocal anti-vaccine rhetoric, but if fans are willing to give her another shot as Wakanda’s main hero, Marvel truly has no need to get on the phone with their casting director for the next Black Panther. Nyong’o also touched on a potential recasting saying, “Honestly, I do not put any energy into trying to imagine a future that I have no control of. So we’ll see. And when we know more, we’ll know more.”

As Nyong’o and Moore implied, it’s wise to wait for Coogler to finish his current project and see where Marvel’s storytelling lands after the next Avengers. They haven’t let us down so far.

When it comes to red carpet fashion, Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal do not disappoint. The two stars delivered sexy vintage styles at the red carpet of the The Wild Robot Headline Gala at the 68th BFI London Film Festival.

These days, fewer celebrities are taking risks on the red carpet. But lucky for us, there will always be a handful of iconic stars that depart from the traditional red carpet look for more bolder choices. For Nyong’o and Pascal, what better time to wow the crowd than while promoting what is arguably the best animated film of the year?

Lupita shines as Chanel’s latest royal!

Earlier this month, Lupita Nyong’o was chosen as the face of Chanel. Being chosen as a Chanel ambassador is quite the feat in the world of fashion. However, judging by Lupita’s ethereal style and beauty, it’s evident that the legacy fashion company is already the greater beneficiary of their recent partnership. 

A film premiere at the London Film Festival would sound like serious business to anyone, and so would a Chanel tweed suit, but we can’t help but lose our cool at how Lupita’s effortless grace and the brand’s creativity are a match made in fashion heaven! For the main piece the seasoned actress opted for a cream white pantsuit straight from the Chanel Fall 2021 couture collection. While the look is way too recent to be vintage, it is definitely timeless.

She paired the pantsuit with a pair of sensible open-toed silver mules. Thanks to A-list icons like Rihanna, Bad Bunny and now, Queen Nyong’o herself, the fashion world is now fully prepared for mule season! Hanging over the suit, and swathed around Lupita’s gorgeous neck is a hefty silver sequined piece. Is it a tabard? Or perhaps, a tunic? The answer is… Neither! It’s a Chanel Scarf, which ties the whole look together. The scarf upgraded the entire outfit from simple business wear, to a wild and shimmery ensemble– the kind that would make any elusive Yeti, or perhaps a Chanel Christmas ornament faint with jealousy. 

But Lupita’s creative process doesn’t end with the scarf. In a cheeky acknowledgement of the film of the hour, Lupita accessorized her look with the cutest purse– the Black Plexiglass and Strass Robot Miniaudière from Chanel’s 2017 Collection. It’s just big enough to fit into Lupita’s own palm, but it’s so quaint and full of whimsy that we just might forget the $50k price tag!

Pedro is bringing sexy 70s back!

Pedro Pascal voices the red fox in The Wild Robot, and that may have inspired his look at the film premiere event in London. Pedro has taken a couple of fashion risks on the red carpet before, and this time, he opts for an impeccably tailored suit, with not a stitch out of place. 

The suit itself is a blue-gray fabric sewn in the 70s suit style, with wide-legged pants and black shirt on unassuming brown loafers. There is a second highlight to the outfit of course– the neckline. Pedro Pascal’s outfit is accessorized with a wide glimpse of skin in a plunging neckline that plunges low. And when you think it’s plunged down enough, it plunges down even deeper. 

Overall, it is a gorgeous take, on a gorgeous outfit, by a gorgeous man, so there are zero complaints. While the outfit itself may lack any shine (Pedro’s  blinding smile does not count), it’s even nicer to see such an edgy interpretation of a traditionally masculine outfit like the suit. Perhaps if we keep hoping and praying, he would be inspired to push the envelope even further next time! Deeper necklines for everybody!

If there are two types of cinematic storytelling that are in need of more artistic champions, it’s animation, and children’s media (and yes, those are two very distinct things). Despite what fantastic strides continue to be made on both fronts, it’s been difficult to shake the stereotypes of animation being less emotionally impactful than live-action projects, and children’s media not needing to be anything more than flashy gibberish.

It’s apparent right from its opening moments that The Wild Robot is about to cement itself as a foremost paragon of both animated stories and children’s films. By the closing moments, it quite confidently establishes itself as the frontrunner for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Throughout the time that es between those two points, an evocative song of profound emotional intelligence roars, whispers, giggles, and prevails.

The Wild Robot stars the vocal cords of the ineffable Lupita Nyong’o as ROZZUM unit 7134 (or, as we’ll affectionately come to know her, Roz), the lone intact robot of a group of six to have washed up on the shore of an island teeming with wildlife. Armed with nothing but her problem-solving programming and can-do attitude, Roz attempts to help the creatures of the forest with their “problems” but struggles to fit in on the island. Furthermore, a tragic mishap results in a tiny gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor) declaring Roz as his mother, and if Roz thought her previous tasks were puzzling, she’s going to have a hell of a time in the never-ending gauntlet of parenting.

We’ll get into some of the film’s finer subtleties later on, but it must be pointed out right away how impossibly gorgeous The Wild Robot is as a visual and auditory artistic feat. At once a disciple of the most eager sides of the color spectrum, the film dazzles as a canvas, and it shows remarkable insight towards managing its animated advantages to capture both breathtaking spectacle and tranquil curiosity. Together with Kris Bowers’ horn-heavy tidal wave of a score, the non-narrative aspects of The Wild Robot‘s personality already express so much; it’s almost unfair that it’s paired with the story that writer-director Chris Sanders adapted from Peter Brown’s 2016 novel.

This is without the story taking the shape you would expect. Indeed, The Wild Robot plays very fast and loose with its plot, and in doing so, it encourages us, viewers, to not think too deeply about how time is ing in the film, and instead regard the growth of these characters in a much more organic manner. Roz, still beholden to her programming upon our first meeting with her, is the most exemplary case of this; her montages of progress are charming enough, but it’s when she’s fluidly drifting from one scene/encounter to the next that the film’s emotional core really gets to play and unfold into sharper thematic victories.

As for Roz herself, Nyong’o plays her with the exact understated depth that the film’s backbone is built upon. The robot-learning-to-love quirks are all there; a cheerful pitch, an inability to read the room, and a perpetually undeterred attitude. Even when Roz completes her arc, these aspects about her never truly fade from Nyong’o’s voice, and yet the actress nails down the very slight tonal sweet spots of sad, anxious, and I-can’t-believe-I-have-to-deal-with-this-s*** as needed. It’s a performance that understands the need for growth without sacrificing the very necessary original packaging, and it’s an utterly splendid one.

Also of note is Pedro Pascal’s turn as Fink, a red fox that becomes something of a surrogate uncle to Brightbill early on in the film. The importance of Fink’s journey as a character cannot be understated. Like Roz, he boasts all the traits you might come to expect from a fox character; sly, sarcastic, jerkish, and full of sneers. It’s apparent very early on, however, that this attitude is a front for what he really desires; love and belonging. With every hint that gets dropped, Pascal’s voice bristles ever-so-slightly, but it’s not until he finally speaks Fink’s deepest vulnerabilities at the end of the film that Pascal switches on our tear ducts, causing the fox’s voice to crumble defenselessly with just a few simple words. It’s arguably the strongest emotional beat of the whole film, and certainly the strongest of the film’s second half; a key moment of brilliance from the actor.

The Wild Robot‘s handling of Fink — and, by extension, its parsing of what these ironic attitudes truly hide in the heart — is perhaps the most straightforward example of the film’s ability to not only inhabit important emotional spaces but also demonstrate its knowledge on how to express emotion itself on a beat-to-beat basis.

For instance, The Wild Robot is an incredibly funny movie; Roz’s bumbling choreography and the script’s willingness to insert some surprisingly dark jokes into the mix allow the character dynamics to flourish quite gleefully. The Wild Robot is just as effective at making you sad, and it’s more than happy to do so whenever it catches you with a smile on your face. One minute, we’re all laughing at Roz’s clumsy misreading of a situation, and then she’ll suddenly whip out a heartwrenching line that makes us feel bad for laughing just moments ago.

It’s a remarkable punctuation of Roz as a character and a fascinating examination of emotion as a whole organism. It’s no secret that, when it comes to emotions, the intensity of the highs also informs that of the lows, and that symbiosis of joy and sorrow is a very important aspect of the film’s identity. In the case of Roz’s earliest scenes, though, she isn’t actually aware that those aforementioned heartwrenching lines are actually heartwrenching, thus demonstrating just how much emotion — in all its necessary conflict — is always in play even if you’re not directly engaging with it. In this way, The Wild Robot adheres to a sort of emotional absolutism that both respects and celebrates the most essential, equally nonsensical parts of our humanity, all while barely ever showing a single human on the screen.

It’s this astounding virtuosity of The Wild Robot‘s early stages that somewhat highlights the slight decline of the latter stages. By centering this familial dance of love between Roz, Fink, and Brightbill, The Wild Robot hones in on a number of different themes ranging from belonging, to recognizing one’s own truth in a sea of rigidity, and the mythological power of nature, which thrives when there’s a non-descript-yet-eager willingness to exist alongside it rather than understand or fix it.

By establishing these things early on, it’s not exactly a poor choice to set these themes free into the rest of the film just to see how they play upon the rest of the plot-specific proceedings, but the second half of The Wild Robot nevertheless loses a bit of its grip on the emotional duality that gave it so much of its early thrust. As a result, it’s not quite as funny, not quite as profound, and doesn’t stick quite as many landings with its emotional beats as the first half.

But how indicative of The Wild Robot‘s prestige that its biggest flaw is not living up to the version of itself that actually does exist, whereas so many more can only claim to be a lesser expression of its full potential? If anything, that imperfection — that relative incompletion — is itself adhering to the human condition that Roz tries so hard to comprehend and, like all of us, fails at in the most miraculous ways.

Indeed, suppose there’s somehow an even better-animated film that makes its way to us this year. In that case, it will be a most welcome development, not just because a good movie is a victory for everybody, but also because The Wild Robot is in serious need of competition in the Best Animated Feature category right now. Pressure’s on, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

On the fourth anniversary of his tragic death, Chadwick Boseman has been commemorated by his Black Panther co-star, Lupita Nyong’o. The actress, who portrayed Boseman’s onscreen love interest, Nakia, in the first installment of the Marvel film, took to Instagram to reflect on the grief she’s still enduring, years after the King T’Challa actor ed away after a battle with colon cancer.

“Grief never ends,” the actress wrote alongside a black-and-white image of Boseman and another of her by his side, “grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It’s the price of love.”

The Us star concluded the message by writing “ing Chadwick Boseman. Forever.” Nyong’o wasn’t the only co-star of Boseman’s to reflect on his legacy yesterday, with Viola Davis also sharing a touching tribute on the fourth anniversary of his death. Davis, who worked with Boseman on 2014’s Get on Up as well as his final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, said on Instagram that her late co-star “live[s] on in me.” 

“Authenticity, ion and love were all woven in one extraordinary human…..CHADWICK BOSEMAN,” the How To Get Away With Murder star added. “Your flame will never be extinguished.” Elsewhere, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who almost cast Boseman in the role of Drax, also shared an anniversary tribute to the actor on social media.  

Nyong’o, Davis and Gunn were among the celebrities who first reacted to news of Boseman’s ing in 2020. At the time, Nyong’o said she missed Boseman’s “laughter and silence in equal measure,” while Davis wrote “Man you are missed!”. 

Jamie Foxx, Jane Lynch, and Kerry Washington also paid tribute to Boseman in 2020, alongside his Marvel family castmates Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Zoë Saldana. Boseman kept his years-long battle with colon cancer out of the public eye, though it was reported after his death that he filmed projects like Black Panther during and between surgeries and chemotherapy.       

Boseman has been commemorated in various ways in the years since his ing. Last year, he was paid tribute with Rihanna’s performance of “Lift Me Up” at the Academy Awards, and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Elsewhere, footage of the late actor appeared in Wakanda Forever, the Black Panther sequel that premiered in 2022. 

“He believed he was ordained to get that role,” Black Panther director Ryan Coogler said in 2022. “He would be like, ‘Yeah, I had [T’Challa] on vision journals and I wanted to do this role.” 

Acting is difficult, but luckily there are some secret formulas to improve your skills. Starring once more in a horror film, Lupita Nyong’o has shared the biggest acting secret she used in her new film, A Quiet Place: Day One.

Nyong’o is back to horror films, taking the lead in A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to the A Quiet Place duology created by John Krasinski. The Oscar-winning actress — who took home the golden statuette for her role in 2013’s 12 Years a Slave — has proven the breadth of her range in many films across several genres. A true queen of the big screen, Nyong’o has starred in dramas, fantasy films, and even superhero and horror roles.

Her most recent role in A Quiet Place: Day One comes following her brilliant performance in 2019’s fellow horror hit, Us. Now, the actress is back to wow us all with her acting skills and she has the best advice for all the aspiring actors looking to make it big in Hollywood.

Lupita Nyong’o shares the ‘formula’ for making the most believable scared face

During the press tour for A Quiet Place: Day One, Nyong’o shared some solid advice about starring in a horror film. There are many formulas and advice out there about improving your acting skills, but Nyong’o has already received critical acclaim for most of her roles. A Quiet Place: Day One’s “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score is mostly due to her impeccable skills, as many critics couldn’t help but praise her acting in the horror film.

During an interview with her co-star Joseph Quinn, the actress revealed her best-kept secret for a believable scared face. “There is a formula,” Lupita said before wondering whether she should share it with the world.

“What I would say is, you want to think about things that won’t make you laugh. You want to frown as heavily as possible, you want to open your eyes, drop your jaw, and you want to move as fast as possible.”

Nyong’o’s previous horror film, Jordan Peele’s Us, received great acclaim and a certified fresh rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and she took home several awards for her dual role in the film. If anyone knows how to make a scared face, it’s her.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, we appreciate knowing the formula she used in A Quiet Place: Day One, which is safe to try at home and not scary at all.

Horror is enjoying a real resurgence in pop culture following many years outside the spotlight, with subgenres like found footage dying and originals returning. Shocking however, is how this star-studded horror comedy didn’t find its way into more recognition.

Little Monsters stars Marvel and Star Wars alum Lupita Nyong’o and the comedic force of Josh Gad, but has been left to languish on streaming shelves over the last few years. Despite the film getting a screening at Sundance, immensely positive reviews, and a fun premise, nobody seems to recall it.

The Sundance debut cannot be underestimated, with this hardly a normal occurrence for the horror genre. Reddit’s horror community are currently deep into their investigation of how it didn’t continue this momentum.

The dark Australian comedy is a very enjoyable and suitably light-hearted tale of zombies, with it seeing an utter deadbeat uncle take part in a school excursion almost solely to get closer to Nyong’o’s Audrey. Just 94 minutes, it’s the perfect length for such a film and did well critically. So how did it end up like a lost piece of Nyong’o’s filmography?

The strong cast also sees several local Australian actors get their chance of international recognition, but it feels as though its limited theatrical release overseas completely shunned it from audiences. Instead, it became a part of Hulu’s catalogue but with no advertising or marketing.

Australia has a strong track record with horror, and Nyong’o’s star was very much “in” when it released in 2019. Little Monsters may have been a victim of getting onto the wrong streaming platform – had this been on Netflix it likely would’ve seen a lot more recognition.

An apparent extra for the film says the hype had been building for Little Monsters, and it just seemed to burst before it ever caught steam. The film is currently available to stream on Hulu.

There is an old saying that what a person shares on the internet will be there forever. That was proven to be the case for Lupita Nyong’o‘s new boyfriend, Selema Masekela, after the pair revealed they are dating by sharing a post on their respective Instagram s. On Dec. 23, The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actress ed a fashion compilation video of the pair. 

In addition to the recording, Nyong’o wrote the touching caption, “We just click!” At the same time, Masekela shared the same clip and professed his love to the US star by saying, “Hearts are synched. My whole and actual love.”

Masekela, the son of jazz artist Hugh Masekela, is a television host. He got his big break in the industry in the early 2000s by being a sports reporter for ESPN. In 2006, Masekela shifted gears and co-hosted a half-hour entertainment show called The Daily 10 alongside Debbie Matenopoulos and Catt Sadler. The series aired on E News! until 2010. Since then, Masekela has been covering sporting events, the most notable being ESPN’s Winter X Games and NBC’s summer Olympics. Aside from hosting, the 51-year-old also sings and acts. 

Immediately following Nyong’o and Masekela’s dating announcement, a Twitter found a 2016 post that Masekela wrote asking his followers to give him helpful opening lines to start a conversation with Nyong’o, who was sitting in front of him on a plane. 

Although it is unclear if Masekela’s followers’ suggestions worked, many have expressed their excitement for the couple upon hearing the news. Despite Nyong’o and Masekela’s similar social media posts confirming the couple’s relationship, there are no other details released at this time

Warning: This article contains full spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

After watching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we’re all left with so many questions and thoughts about that wholly moving and shocking post-credits scene. Even though it’s been confirmed that the concept predated Chadwick Boseman’s death, the tag sequence’s big reveal feels like the perfect way to honor both the late actor and King T’Challa as well as continue the Black Panther legacy moving forward. Yes, T’Challa and Nakia have a son.

As we learn along with Shuri, Toussaint — whose Wakandan name is T’Challa II — was born and raised in Haiti outside of the limelight, as his parents felt it best that he enjoy a regular childhood away from the pressures of the Wakandan throne and the danger of being tangled up in Black Panther business. The exact timeline of his life is left vague in the movie itself, but if you do the math, you realize that T’Challa Jr. must have been born prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

In dropping this twist, then, Marvel is actually subtly fixing one of the biggest oversights of both Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The beauty of those two films is that virtually every one of our MCU favorites returned to in the fight against Thanos. Especially in that final battle. Even Howard the Duck ed in the fun, for Gorr’s sake. And yet Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia was nowhere to be seen, despite every other warrior from the Wakanda corner of the MCU turning up.

Obviously, the IRL reason for her absence was due to Nyong’o being unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, but it made little sense in-universe why she wouldn’t take part in a battle for the sake of the entire cosmos, especially as Black Panther ended with her and T’Challa committing to each other. Now, finally, we have an entirely valid answer for Nakia’s curious disappearance from the franchise for so many years.

Now we just have to hope she won’t miss the next Avengers event. Marvel, make sure Lupita’s free for Secret Wars ASAP.

As you’d expect from two humongous franchises, there are a lot of actors who’ve appeared in both Star Wars and the MCU. Prominent examples are Natalie Portman, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis, and Oscar Isaac, though one Oscar-winning star clearly needs a reminder of which franchise is which.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Lupita Nyong’o was being interviewed alongside Winston Duke when the pair were quizzed on what the first Disney Plus Marvel show was. Nyong’o jumped in excitedly to say “The Mandalorian!“, with both Duke and the interviewer laughing, before telling her she’d gotten her franchises mixed up and the right answer was WandaVision.

Even so, the official Star Wars will take the nod:

Nyong’o really should know better after playing Maz Kanata in all three sequel trilogy movies, though we guess she hasn’t been involved in Star Wars in a while, and there’s no indication of whether Maz will ever return for future movies or shows. We still feel like there’s a lot of mileage left in her story, as she was around a thousand years old by the time we met her in The Force Awakens.

Whatever the case, the ending of Wakanda Forever indicates that Nyong’o’s Nakia will be playing a major role in Black Panther stories, so we can at least assume that character will reappear for the inevitable third entry. Details on how that’ll play out are unknown, but we may not see it until 2026 or 2027 as part of Phase Seven anyway.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in theaters, and The Mandalorian will return for its third season in early 2023.

It might be a bold claim to state that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has the best cast in the MCU, but we’re making it anyway. While stunning audiences in theaters around the world, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta, and Dominique Thorne are also putting their bond to the test.

In a new promotional video shared by Marvel Studios on Twitter, the cast of Wakanda Forever read out a number of questions regarding lesser-known information about each of their colleagues, as they either tried to guess the correct answer, or confidently flex their knowledge.

Nyong’o, Wright, and Bassett all knew about Thorne’s Cornell education, “because she kept talking about it on set,” Wright complained mockingly.

Huerta’s 70 acting credits, however, came as a curve-ball for most of the cast, with even Huerta himself understandably assuming the right answer was the actress who plays Wakanda matriarch Queen Ramonda.

Wright managed to shock Nyong’o with her poker face, as well, when the two were asked about which cast member appeared in the legendary British sci-fi series Doctor Who, leading her to make an educated guess for another British cast member, and MCU newbie, Michaela Coel.

Speaking of doctors, it also turns out that there’s three doctors in the cast of Wakanda Forever. Bassett, Gurira, and Nyong’o all have honorary PhDs. Bassett actually has five of them, but it was Gurira who said it best, “don’t hate the player!”

Bassett’s performance in Wakanda Forever is already drawing in massive Oscar buzz, which could make her the first actor in a Marvel movie to be nominated for cinema’s most famous accolade. Huerta, Wright, and Gurira, especially, also deliver incredible performances in the film, with Nyong’o, Thorne, and Duke adding their amazing talents to the mix in minor roles.

Catch the brilliance of the cast in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now in theaters.

While Paramount’s Star Trek struggles to get back on the big screen, the studio without any superheroes is humming along nicely with its A Quiet Place series. The soon-to-be-trilogy series is getting a prequel in the not-so-distant future and now, Lupita Nyong’o is reportedly on board for A Quiet Place: Day One, a chronological predecessor to the original film about the earliest days of the blind and brutal alien invasion saga.

News of her purportedly being in final negotiations was reported earlier today by Deadline. The project, set to release in 2024, is from Pig director Michael Sarnoski and comes from an original idea by John Krasinski. There is little known about the film right now aside from the fact that, while not out of the question, it is not likely Emily Blunt or Krasinski will be reprising their roles.

The core franchise is receiving a third film, which is on track for 2025. Krasinski will be returning to direct, and the concept has proven to be a hit. A Quiet Place Part II was the first post-pandemic theatrical-only release. It opened to $57 million, has earned about $300 million worldwide, and is a critical hit. Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are producers and Krasinski and partner Allyson Seeger at his Saturday Night label are executive producers. A video game is also in the works. It will be in the same continuity as the films, will come from Saber Interactive, and is reportedly going to tell an original and untold story in the world.

Even though we know we’re already getting Namor the Sub-Mariner in the movie, greedy Marvel fans have got themselves convinced that another long-awaited monarch will make their MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The word on the street is that none other than Doctor Doom will turn up in the incoming sequel’s post-credits scene. But is there any truth to this? Well, here’s a reaction to those rumors straight from the panther’s mouth — the movie’s cast.

Letitia Wright (Shuri), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), and Danai Gurira (Okoye) were grilled on the couch of Jimmy Kimmel Live this week over all things Wakanda Forever. While throwing various rumors at them to get some kind of reaction, Kimmel quizzed them on whether Victor Von Doom really is about to appear in the film’s tag scene, joking that he’s heard Adam Sandler is going to play the Latverian king.

Gurira, in particular, had a hilarious reaction to Kimmel’s line of questioning, quipping: “You know, I want to see the movie you’ve been told about… We need to get this made. I hope the right people are watching.”

This interview makes clear that all three actresses graduated with flying colors from what Gurira labels as “Marvel media training,” as they manage to avoid either confirming or denying anything Kimmel put to them. Wright didn’t even address whether she is the next Black Panther or not, something the trailers have basically spelled out. So don’t expect these Wakandan warriors to pull a Tom Holland or Mark Ruffalo on this press tour.

Still, maybe Kimmel is on to something with Doom — about him being in the credits scene, not the Adam Sandler part. With fans getting antsy to receive some Fantastic Four casting news, meeting the MCU’s take on their eternal nemesis next month would go some way to calming them down.

We’ll find out whether Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will bring Doom to the franchise when it premieres on Nov. 11.