Black Panther Director Ryan Coogler Fought To Keep This Deleted Scene In The Movie

At over two hours, there's plenty to love about Black Panther, the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, not everything scripted and shot wound up in the version of the movie fans are seeing in theaters. The following contains Black Panther spoilers.

While there are plenty of deleted scenes that may one day end up on the digital and Blu-ray releases of Black Panther, there's one in particular that director Ryan Coogler fought hard to keep in his final cut. During an appearance on the Empire podcast, executive producer Nate Moore opened up about the scene, which sheds some light on the relationship between Okoye (Danai Gurira) and W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya).

"So in the film, it is more than hinted at that they're a couple, but there is a scene directly after Killmonger takes the throne where you hear both characters articulate their point of view as to why they should or shouldn't follow this man, and it's one of the most well-acted scenes I've ever been a part of," he says. "Unfortunately, it occurred at a point in the movie where audiences just wanted to get to the resolution and so it slowed down a part of the movie, and we were afraid audiences were checking out. We were also afraid if we took it out we’re going to ruin this movie--'Guys we're going to ruin this movie; let's not take it out.' We didn’t take it out for three or four screenings, and we finally took it out and I think Ryan and I were probably the last men on that beach saying don't take it out."

While keeping the pacing of the movie even is important, the relationship between Okoye and W'Kabi was only briefly touched upon in Black Panther before their final showdown. In the end, though, it seems as though the movie played better without this scene.

Still, given how excited Moore is about the performances of Gurira and Kaluuya, this is a scene that definitely needs to see the light of day. Cross your fingers and hope that by the time Black Panther gets a home release, this moment will be included. If fans are lucky, it'll be one of many deleted scenes included, given that a four-hour cut of the movie existed at one point.