“The Walking Dead” star Danai Gurira has joined the cast of Marvel’s “Black Panther” movie, the studio announced Saturday at Comic-Con.
In addition Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige confirmed the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, the play love interest of Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther.
Gurira will play Okoye in the movie, while Boseman will reprise his role as the Black Panther himself, a.k.a. T’Challa, which he originated in May’s Marvel blockbuster “Captain America: Civil War.”
Director Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) was also introduced at Comic-Con’s Hall H.
Boseman impressed in his first outing as king of the fictional African nation Wakanda, and proved a force to be reckoned with for the likes of Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man.
Marvel’s standalone “Black Panther” movies is due in theaters on July 6, 2018.
Gurira recently signed to play Tupac Shakur‘s mother, Afeni Shakur, in a biopic of the late rapper called “All Eyez on Me” being distributed by Open Road and directed by Benny Boom.
Gurira is best known for her role as Michonne on AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Her other TV credits include “Law & Order” and “Treme,” and her film credits include “The Visitor,” “Ghost Town” and “My Soul to Take.” She also voiced a character in the animated feature, “Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast.”
She also has an association with Nyong’o since both earned Tony nominations this spring for their work on the Broadway drama “Eclipsed,” which Gurira wrote and Nyong’o starred in.