Lupita Nyong’o is remembering her late friend and “Black Panther” co-star Chadwick Boseman on the fourth anniversary of his death.
The Oscar-winner, 41, acknowledged she still grieves for the actor, who passed away on August 28, 2020 at the age of 43 following a secret four-year battle with colon cancer.
Nyong’o posted two photos on Instagram — a black-and-white snap of Boseman looking the very model of a modern movie star and a picture of the pair laughing taken at The Apollo Theater in New York on February 27, 2018, just days after “Black Panther” debuted.
She captioned the post with a quote of unknown origin: “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.”
The “A Quiet Place: Day One” star signed off, “Remembering Chadwick Boseman. Forever.”
Boseman’s death shocked the world, his health struggle having been under wraps in the last years of his life. After his passing, his family revealed that several of the actor’s final projects “were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy.”
The star was nominated posthumously for Best Actor at the 2021 Academy Awards for his work on “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” However, the Oscar ultimately went to Anthony Hopkins, who played a man struggling with the crippling effects of old age in “The Father.”
Boseman’s untimely demise also had a major impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a firmament in which Boseman’s star had ascended to a position of primacy following the runaway critical and commercial success of “Black Panther.”
Writer-director Ryan Coogler had to rework the film’s sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” following Boseman’s death as Marvel made it clear they would not recast the role of T’Challa.
Nyong’o was one of the many Hollywood stars who publicly mourned Boseman’s passing, a loss she and her “Black Panther” co-stars no doubt felt more acutely than most.
“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 on social media at the time.
“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.”
As production got underway on “Black Panther 2” (which would become “Wakanda Forever”), Nyong’o said she and the rest of the cast felt a deep sense of grief on set.
“For us as a cast, having lost our king, Chadwick Boseman, that was a lot to process, and in many ways, we’re still processing it,” she said. “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.”
Nyong’o has previously paid tribute to Boseman in the years since his death, including on what would have been the actor’s 47th birthday in November 2023.
“Marking the birthday of a heroic friend,” she wrote on Instagram, captioning a Polaroid photo of herself, Boseman, Coogler and their “Black Panther” co-star Michael B. Jordan. “I am blessed that his time on this earth coincided with mine.”
