Actress Danai Gurira, ‘Okoye’, To Star in New Disney+ Series ‘Kingdom of Wakanda’

Actress Danai Gurira, who played Okoye, leader of Wakanda’s all-female honor guards, the Dora Milage, in  Black Panther and Avengers: EndGame, will reprise the role in both the upcoming feature film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the spinoff series Disney+ Kingdom of Wakanda.

Danai Gurira

Marvel Studios hasn’t officially made the announcement, but a The Hollywood Reporter profile on her agent/lawyer Jamie Mandelbaum revealed that he had negotiated a deal for both Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and  Kingdom of Wakanda.

ComicBook: Outside of formally announcing the Disney+ show with involvement from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, Marvel Studios has yet to reveal any other information about the new series. In fact, details about the future of the franchise have been kept tightly under wraps — especially so after the death of star Chadwick Boseman. Coogler himself explained on Jemele Hill’s Unbothered about the difficulty of crafting the Black Panther sequel without the actor who played the title character.

“You know, I’m currently going through it,” he explained. “One thing that I’ve learned in my short or long time on this Earth, however, you want to look at it, it’s difficult to have perspective on something while you’re going through it. This is one of the more profound things that I’ve ever gone through in my life, having to be a part of keeping this project going without this particular person. Who was like the glue that held it together.”

Gurira is set to be part of the ABC/Disney family for a long time after inking a a multi-year, overall deal in February.  Variety: “Under the deal, the celebrated actress and Tony-nominated playwright will develop, write and produce projects for the studio across all platforms. She is currently serving as showrunner and executive producer on “Americanah,” a miniseries for HBO Max which she adapted from the bestselling novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Lupita Nyong’o is attached to star.”

Gurira holds the distinction of being the first African female writer to have a play on Broadway. Her stage plays include “In the Continuum,” “Eclipsed,” and “The Convert.” Her newest play, “Familiar,” received its world premiere at Yale Rep and premiered in New York at Playwrights Horizons in 2016.

In addition to her work on Black Panther and Avengers, Gurira is known for starring in The Walking Dead.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently set to premiere in theaters on July 8, 2022. Kingdom of Wakanda does not yet have a release date on Disney+.