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Winston Duke Says Chadwick Boseman's Death Left 'Gaping Hole' on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Set

Winston Duke Says Chadwick Boseman's Death Left 'Gaping Hole' on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Set

Chadwick Boseman's death two years ago continues to deeply affect the people who knew and loved him.

Winston Duke opened up about the experience of filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever without friend and co-star Boseman during an interview on the Jemele Hill Is Unbothered podcast released Monday.

"That is something that we have to wrestle with daily on set because there was a gaping hole when it came to his presence," the 38-year-old actor revealed. "You felt it daily. You felt him not being there."

Black Panther
Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock Chadwick Boseman

Related: Marvel's Kevin Feige on Not Recasting Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther Role: 'It Was Much Too Soon'

Boseman, who died of colon cancer in 2020 at age 43, had been diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016 and had battled it privately for four years as it progressed to stage IV.

Winston Duke attends D23 Expo 2022 at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on September 10, 2022. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney); Chadwick Boseman attends the Marvel Studios' BLACK PANTHER Global Junket Press Conference on January 30, 2018 at Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty (2) Winston Duke and Chadwick Boseman

His unexpected passing took Hollywood by surprise — and left an indelible mark on cinema with his award-winning role as the titular character in Black Panther. 

RELATED VIDEO: Remembering Chadwick Boseman

Duke said the set was very different this time around. "He was a very gentle presence of strength, power, and scope," the Tobagonian actor shared on the podcast. "You knew he was there, but he didn't have to say anything. He wasn't walking around with a big ego… You don't realize the impact when they're there. But when they're not, it's apparent. You feel it intrinsically and that was the experience on set daily for a year."

Others working on the film felt the loss too. "I think this film has the fog of loss over it, and anamorphic lenses warp the image a little bit," director and co-writer Ryan Coogler recently told Entertainment Weekly. "Sometimes when you go through profound loss, it can warp how you look at the world."

"What we were after was just making it feel tactile, even though it felt like a dream," added the filmmaker, 36. "The film should feel like a really wild dream that you would have, but where everything felt like it was really there."

Related: Letitia Wright "Could Hear" Chadwick Boseman Tell Her "You Got This" on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Set

Duke's interview hit the same day the second trailer dropped for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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In Marvel Studios' latest trailer for the sequel to 2018's Black Panther, familiar faces unite to team up against Namor (Tenoch Huerta), leader of the underwater kingdom of Talocan.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters Nov. 11