Ryan Coogler Inks 5-Year TV Deal with Disney - Disney+ Wakanda Series in Development
DISNEY LOOKS TO BE EXPANDING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ‘BLACK PANTHER’ DIRECTOR, AT LEAST ON THE SMALL SCREEN.
Disney has announced that they are extending their relationship with Ryan Coogler, signing the “Black Panther” writer-director and his production company Proximity Media to a 5-year deal that will see him develop numerous television programs for them, presumably to stream on Disney+.
One of the upcoming series will be very enticing for Marvel fans: a show focused on Wakanda, the fictional African country where “Black Panther” is set. Wakanda is a technologically advanced kingdom where King T’Challa and his family and friends live. Due to how advanced a country it is, the culture that it celebrates and the numerous Marvel characters that live there, there is a lot of material that Coogler and his team can mine for great content that will feed Marvel and Disney’s continued push into streaming that has begun with “Wandavision”.
Plot details remain unknown, and the passing of Chadwick Boseman last summer has only made it harder for the team to figure out the next path going forward for the Black Panther and the lore that surrounds it. Characters like Nakia, Okoye, Shuri and M’Baku have become fan favorites that could each hypothetically become the focal point of the Wakanda series. This joins the many other series Marvel has planned for the Disney+ streaming service as well as the theatrical “Black Panther” sequel that Coogler will once again direct.
Coogler made the following remarks about his deal with Disney:
“It’s an honor to be partnering with The Walt Disney Company. Working with them on Black Panther was a dream come true. As avid consumers of television, we couldn’t be happier to be launching our television business with Bob Iger, Dana Walden and all the amazing studios under the Disney umbrella. We look forward to learning, growing, and building a relationship with audiences all over the world through the Disney platforms. We are especially excited that we will be taking our first leap with Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and their partners at Marvel Studios where we will be working closely with them on select MCU shows for Disney+. We’re already in the mix on some projects that we can’t wait to share.”
Disney signing Coogler for television is not only a sign of how popular he has become over the last few years, but also the importance for the studio to sign creative talent to build up their continued streaming ambitions. As Netflix and other companies try to grab creators for exclusive deals, it becomes all the more important for Disney to extend their relationships with the creators they already have. Given how monumental a success “Black Panther” was, Coogler will be an important asset for that future.
Are you excited to see more of Wakanda? What do you think the series should be about and who should it focus on? What other projects are you hoping come out of Coogler’s deal? Let us know in the comments below!