Were Shuri and Namor supposed to be love interests in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? The movie’s creative team can’t seem to decide.
Fans and shippers were elated when movie editor Michael P. Shawver teased the duo’s romantic foundation in early drafts of the sequel. If it was once a reality, what’s keeping it from being a reality again?
He told Newsweek, “I think what’s really interesting is there were takes where there was some connection there. And at one point in an early cut we discussed like, ‘Hey, do we leave it there? Do we just put it out there? Let’s just add some complexity to the relationship.'”
Shawver went on to explain that the team was cautious of what they were portraying and didn’t want to reduce Shuri’s successes to her “flirting to get what she wants,” so, by drawing on the characters’ shared trauma, they decided to make Namor a “big brother” figure to the grieving engineer.
There’s one scene, however, that has stuck with fans. When Shuri (Letitia Wright) allows herself to be taken to Talokan, Namor (Tenoch Huerta) shows Shuri his kingdom and gifts her his mother’s bracelet (which is just fandom crack).
Shawver said, “Honestly, we’ve got to keep ourselves sane and laugh a lot, especially with the tougher moments or the serious moments, so we would always joke that when he gave her that bracelet they were married now, and she didn’t know it.”
He continued to joke, “There’s a whole different movie where she’s like, ‘Wait, what, I’m the queen of Talokan now?'”
After MCU Direct picked up the quotes, production designer Hannah Beachler, who also worked on the first film, tweeted, “Nope,” adding that the film “never shot a romantic scene with them.”
Nope. JS never shot a romantic scene with them.
— Cozy (@HannahEBeachler) November 29, 2022
Responding to confused fans in the comments, she added, “I think Shawver was taken way out of context. While there was a curiosity & seemingly a mutual experience of loss, never any scenes that would be considered typical ‘romance’ or physical intimacy filmed. Shawver is a good dude. Media recreating something where there’s nothing.”
After one viewer suggests that Shuri was flirting with Namor to ensure Riri’s (Dominique Thorne) safety, Beachler responded with, “Who wants to tell them?” and a series of supportive emojis.
Shawver has yet to respond to the ongoing speculation, but as a shipper myself, I’ll choose to live in ignorant bliss, because who isn’t lusting for that dreamy merman?
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now.
