Ryan Coogler confirms Denzel Washington will star in Black Panther 3

Director hailed Washington as ‘the greatest living actor’

Director Ryan Coogler has confirmed that Denzel Washington will appear in the third Black Panther movie.

Two-time Oscar winner Washington, 70, previously revealed that Coogler, who helmed 2018’s Black Panther and its 2022 follow-up Wakanda Forever, was writing him a part.

In an appearance on the 7pm in Brooklyn podcast, the director, 39, responded to the host’s discussion of Washington’s past comments by revealing that “there’s no fiction out there about that”.

Coogler, whose most recent movie Sinners has been one of this year’s biggest box office successes so far, added that the Training Day star feels like “family” to him and admitted that he has been trying to collaborate with the legendary actor since the start of his directing career.

“Denzel is family at this point,” he told host Carmelo Anthony. “I’ve been trying to work with him since day one.

“I think he’s the greatest living actor, and in terms of what he means to our culture, forget about it. I’ve been talking to him about this for a long time.”

Washington previously mentioned the Marvel role in an interview last year (Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Coogler went on to admit that he was “surprised” when Washington mentioned his Black Panther role in an interview last year, but conceded: “It’s not like it’s not true.”

Further details about the upcoming sequel, including the nature of Washington’s role, are scarce, with a release date yet to be confirmed by Marvel Studios.

However, producer Nate Moore has suggested that the follow-up won’t arrive in cinemas “before Avengers”, referring to the upcoming movies Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to debut in December 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars, which is slated for December 2027.

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Coogler’s most recent movie ‘Sinners’ has been a critical and commercial success (Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pi)

In a separate interview, Moore also suggested that there is “no truth” to rumours that Marvel are looking to recast the role of protagonist T’Challa, after Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.

Coogler was working on the script for the second movie when Boseman died and adjusted the story to reflect the star’s passing.

Washington served as a producer on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which would become Boseman’s final movie.

The Equalizer star also paid for Boseman’s tuition fees after he was accepted into the British American Drama Academy’s summer programme back when the Black Panther star was a college student.