happy all the time. I can only hope that people took something from
that speech and felt encouraged.’
After her movies collectively earned more money than those of
any other actor in 2018 (‘What can I say? It’s amazing! I’m very
grateful for it’), Wright reprised the role of Shuri this spring in what
was to become the highest-grossing film of all time: Avengers:
Endgame. Her appearance, although brief, is memorable. In a CGI-
fuelled battle sequence, she stands, flanked by all the women of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ready to wage war in what feels
like a symbolic changing of the guard, a power handover from the
male-dominated franchise. ‘It was a beautiful moment,’ Wright says
of that scene. ‘We spent most of the time trying to convince the
producers t hat we shou ld g e t a n a l l-fema le Ma r vel fi l m. A f ter ever y
take we’d be like, “Did you see that? We don’t need the guys!”’
Whether or not these women get their own spin-off, Black
Panther i s set to leap back i nto c i nema s i n 2022 w it h a h igh ly a nt ic i-
pated sequel. Wright remains coy on the subject: ‘I don’t know
anything, but I’d definitely like Shuri to take on a darker tone and see
what she can do outside the lab.’ In the
meantime, the actress is set to leave
behind the fictional Black Panther in
favour of Britain’s very real Black
Panther movement of the Sixties, by
incarnating its leader Altheia Jones in
Steve McQueen’s forthcoming anth-
ology series Small Axe. Researching the
beleaguered past of West Indian Lon-
doners for the role proved educational
for the Tottenham-raised Wright. ‘We
see a lot of the history of African-
Americans but we haven’t seen these
stories,’ she says. ‘This show will really
open our eyes. There are certain reali-
ties about the black community here
i n t h e U K t h a t I d i d n’t k n o w a b o u t. A n d
they rock you. Some crazy stuff hap-
pened that was swept under the rug.’
Wright hopes that this series will mark another transitional
moment in her career, where blockbuster juggernauts make way for
cerebral independent cinema. ‘When you do a big movie, people
think you just want to do big movies,’ she says. ‘Marvel is amazing
and I love it, but I want to do more wacky deep arthouse films that
make people think.’ Given the strength of Letitia Wright’s bur-
geoning filmography, it seems likely that she will have her pick of
projects, arthouse or otherwise.‘We spent most
of the time tr y ing
to convince the
producers that
we should get
an all-female
Marvel film’
Mirror) and action (The Commuter) until winning the part that would
come to define her: Shuri in Black Panther.
A sharp-witted scientist, Shuri is the technologically astute
wunderkind advancing the sub-Saharan nation of Wakanda with
her inventions, all the while delivering hilarious one-liners
with impeccable comic timing. Black Panther was more than a film,
it was a cultural movement. Before it gets swept up in its inevitable
save-the-world plot, it investigates African identity and philan-
thropic responsibility with an introspection rare for a popcorn
movie. Wright was immediately drawn to
her multifaceted character. ‘I hadn’t seen
a young black girl like that in so long.
They’re very few and far between,’ she says.
‘A lot of girls related to Shuri and I’m really
proud of that.’ According to her co-star
Daniel Kaluuya, Wright is ‘the heart and
soul’ of the film.
To s a y Black Panther surpassed expec-
tations would be an understatement: it
was showered with critical acclaim, made
$1.3 billion at the box office and was
awarded three Oscars, on a suitably glitzy
evening that saw Wright dance with Adele
at Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s after party. ‘After
the premiere, it was overwhelming. I didn’t
expect that response to the film,’ she
admits. Black Panther was certainly trail-
blazing, but did it change the industry? ‘I think it did. It was doing
something that wasn’t done before and it represented the African
diaspora. It also took the idea that an all-black cast cannot make
this amount of money and slapped it in the face.’
Acting on the counsel of her co-star Angela Bassett, who taught
her to ‘stay grounded and keep it about the work’, Wright did not
a l l o w h e r s e l f t o b a s k i n h e r s u c c e s s. ‘ I t h o u g h t , “ O K , I ’ v e d o n e m y j o b
and I don’t want to dwell on that too much and make myself big-
headed.” I ran away after Black Panther came out and just thought,
“What’s the next project for me to do? ”’ So began a landmark year,
when an appearance in Steven Spielberg’s virtual-reality adventure
Ready Player One and a celebrated run in The Convert at the Young
Vic further accelerated her meteoric rise. These achievements cul-
minated in her taking home the Rising Star Bafta in February, the
only award voted for by the public. During her emotional accept-
ance speech, Wright opened up about her struggles with depression,
and reminded viewers that hers wasn’t a ‘click-of-a-finger success’.
‘I didn’t want anyone to think, “You won a Bafta and you’ve got it all
together. Nothing’s gone wrong for you.” Sometimes, the portrayal
of us as quote-unquote celebrities is so fake,’ she says. ‘No one’s that