Academy Award-nominated actress Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got to Do With It, Olympus Has Fallen, Green Lantern) has joined the cast of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. Bassett, who currently stars in “American Horror Story,” will play Ramonda, mother of T’Challa, aka Black Panther.
Chadwick Boseman will star as the title hero in Black Panther and he’s joined by Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Fruitvale Station), who will play Erik Killmonger (a villain in the source material), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Nakia (a former member of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje, now an agent of Killmonger), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as elder statesman Zuri, Daniel Kaluuya (Sicario, Get Out) as T’Challa’s confidant W’Kabi, Florence Kasumba (Captain America: Civil War) reprising her role as Ayo, Winston Duke as M’Baku, aka the villain Man-Ape, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) as Okoye (a member of the Dora Milaje, the wives-in-training for the King of Wakanda) and Letitia Wright (Ready Player One) in an unknown role.
With a script by Joe Robert Cole and Ryan Coogler, the latter will direct the Kevin Feige-produced film which begins shooting in January in Atlanta, Georgia. The film will be released in theaters on February 16, 2018.