Ryan Coogler just had a massive 2025 with Sinners, an original genre film that was the rare kind of movie to become a commercial success. The vampire drama has also been acclaimed and is now positioned as key player in this year’s awards season. (And it also made it to the top of CinemaBlend’s best 2025 movies list). So, considering that success with an original feature, why is Coogler's next movie Black Panther 3? The filmmaker was just asked that very question, and he humorously dropped an F-bomb while answering.
Back in November, Coogler shared that his next film would be Black Panther 3 , though as far as we know, it hasn't earned a release date among upcoming Marvel movies. The fan-favorite director recently shared a passionate response when asked about why he's venturing into the world of Wakanda yet again:
I’m not making movies to prove anything, you know what I mean? I’m telling stories that I want to tell, that I’m obsessed with, that I feel like [I have] the burning desire to do. Yeah, [Black Panther 3] is a movie I’m incredibly excited about. So that’s really the truth of it.
Ryan Coogler’s comments were shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast after Josh Horowitz asked the director why he’d go back to the franchise after proving he doesn’t need an IP to make a successful movie. As can be seen above, the 39-year-old filmmaker shared that he’s returning to Black Panther because he’s excited about what stories he can tell, rather than focusing on what he can “prove” to anyone else. As he continued:
From the outside looking in, you might say, ‘Man, why [is] this fucking dude making another one of those?’ …. But that’s totally fine, though. That question makes sense. And it’s my job as a filmmaker to show why.
In the interview, Coogler also shared that he’s “got this movie on [his] heart” above anything else. Per his response, he’s not doing it for the paycheck or because Black Panther has historically done well commercially. Instead, he’s genuinely interested in continuing the stories he began. Oh, and he said he’s going to be the “happiest” person on the planet come the day he gets to direct Denzel Washington in whatever role he writes for him after the actor broke the Internet by announcing he’d be in it.
In the same breath, the Creed helmer also shared that he has enjoyed the opportunity to “prove” things to himself over the course of his career. He brought up the example of how Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was essentially about “powerful Black women who were grappling with grief while also doing incredibly important jobs and also starring indigenous Meso-American people." With that job, Coogler had a “good time” showing such a film could make over $800 million at the worldwide box office. But, as he pointed out, that’s not why he was making it.
Rumor has it that Black Panther 3’s release window is February 2028, but we’ll have to continue to follow Ryan Coogler to learn where he’s at with the production. It’s also worth noting that Coogler is also working on an X-Files reboot right now, too.
Marvel Studios’ slate is currently thin, with there being three official upcoming movies on the calendar to round out the Multiverse Saga, Spider-Man Brand New Day (coming this summer), Avengers: Doomsday (out this December) and Avengers: Secret Wars (hitting theaters in December 2027). I can’t wait to see what Coogler cooks up and how he adds to the lore surrounding Wakanda.
