Recently, speculations started circulating that Marvel and Disney were looking to recast T’Challa / Black Panther, a character that was previously portrayed in the MCU by Chadwick Boseman until he passed away in 2020. Since then, fresh rumors have surfaced claiming that Damson Idris, best known for playing Franklin Saint in the FX crime-drama series Snowfall, has turned down the offer of portraying T’Challa in in the MCU. This has prompted the 33-year-old actor to take to social media and give a hilarious response to all these rumors.
Damson Idris on rumors of turning down Black Panther’s role in Avengers: Doomsday
Idris offered his response through his account on X (formerly Twitter) to the rumors of him rejecting the role of T’Challa / Black Panther. While replying to a user who posted about the speculation, he wrote, “Yes sir. I turned down 007, A co-lead film with Daniel Day Lewis and an Eddie Murphy biopic too.” The actor ended the post with an upside-down face emoji, indicating that the remark was sarcastic.
Although Idris might not have gotten or turned down the offers to play T’Challa, be the next James Bond / 007, star alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, or essay the titular role in a biopic about Eddie Murphy, he has accumulated an impressive filmography despite being in the industry only for a little over a decade. Besides Snowfall, he has worked in the 2016 crime thriller City of Tiny Lights, the 2017 biographical drama Megan Leavey, the 2018 action-thriller The Commuter, and the 2021 cyberpunk action feature Outside the Wire. He will star opposite Brad Pitt in Joseph Kosinski’s upcoming sports action-drama movie F1. Previously, there were reports that Idris was in consideration to play the live-action John Stewart in the DCU SERIES Lanterns. Eventually, Rebel Ridge star Aaron Pierre landed that role.
Notably, Black Panther came out in 2018. After Boseman’s passing, its 2022 sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, focused on T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) embracing the duties of the titular superhero. In December 2024, Marvel bosses Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito confirmed Black Panther 3 while addressing the departure of the studio executive Nate Moore.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.
