Lupita Nyong’o is remembering her Black Panther co-star, Chadwick Boseman, on the fourth anniversary of his tragic death.
The beloved actor died at age 43 from colon cancer in 2020, which he had been diagnosed with four years before he died. He had never spoken publicly about his diagnosis. Several projects in his final years “were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy,” his family said in a statement at the time.
While Boseman died before being able to film Black Panther 2, the bond he formed with his fellow Wakandans had grown strong when he died on Aug. 28, 2020.
Nyong’o, who portrayed the actor’s onscreen love interest in the first film, took to social media on Wednesday to share two photos of the actor — one solo and one with her. She included a quote by an unknown author in the caption of her post: “Grief never ends. But it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It’s the price of love.”
“Remembering Chadwick Boseman. Forever,” she concluded.
Even though Boseman wasn’t physically in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the A Quiet Place: Day One star previously told The Hollywood Reporter that his presence was felt on set.
“When you lose someone, I don’t know when you stop missing them. And of course, we felt it so much, making this film without him,” she said. “To make this film against all odds is a powerful statement unto itself, and I am very proud that we did it. It was very therapeutic. It restored a sense of hope for me in making it.”
The Us actress also shared a lengthy tribute for the Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star following the news of his shocking death, in which she admitted she was having trouble thinking about her friend in the past tense.
“I am aware that we are all mortal, but you come across some people in life that possess an immortal energy, that seem like they have existed before, that are exactly where they are supposed to always be – here! … that seem ageless … Chadwick was one of those people,” she wrote in part. “Chadwick was a man who made the most of his time, and somehow also managed to take his time. I didn’t know him for long but he had a profound effect on me in the time that I did.”
