Letitia Wright hit the Marvel Cinematic Universe scene as King T’Challa’s joyfully witty younger sister in 2018’s blockbuster “Black Panther.” But in the new sequel, the actor’s usual easygoing character delivers a more serious tone while dealing with grief.

Wright’s character takes center stage as Shuri who ventures into womanhood after the death of T’Challa. She’ll be looked upon to take the iconic Black Panther mantle in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which releases in theaters Friday. Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa died in August 2020.

In between “Panther” films, Wright took on a few movie projects that exercised her dramatic acting chops.

Wright credits director Ryan Coogler for ushering Shuri’s maturation along in his rewritten script following Boseman’s unexpected death from colon cancer. The director carried an even heavier burden to deliver a strong script — especially after “Black Panther” broke box office records, earned $700 million domestically during its theatrical run and became the first superhero film nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

For the “Black Panther″ follow, Coogler had developed a screenplay centered around T’Challa grieving lost time following Thanos’ snap in “Avengers: Infinity War,” which caused a five-year “blip.” But after Boseman’s death, Coogler and filmmaker Joe Robert Cole went back to the drawing board. They worked up a script that delved more into the concept of Wakanda’s grief in the wake of T’Challa’s death.