‘Black Panther’ Spoilers: Sterling K. Brown Joins Star-Studded Ensemble

Things have gotten even more interesting for the “Black Panther” movie now that Sterling K. Brown, the breakout star of “This Is Us” and “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” has agreed to join the star-studded cast. He will be playing N’Jobu, a figure from T’Challa/Black Panther’s (Chadwick Boseman) past, according to Entertainment Weekly.

After Marvel Cinematic Studios announced his involvement, Brown took to Twitter to express his enthusiasm for the new project.

Other stars in the film include Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and Danai Gurira.

Earlier, Marvel studio chief Kevin Feige said there was no other actor better suited for the role of Black Panther than “Gods of Egypt” star Chadwick Boseman. “He is an incredibly talented actor who possesses all of the qualities that we wanted to inject into the character,” Feige told the South China Morning Post about Boseman. “We've been seeding the notion of the Black Panther and the nation of Wakanda all the way back to 'Iron Man 2,' so it really felt like the time was right to bring in a character that had his own agenda.”

Boseman really worked hard to do his new role justice, and he even took on a role in a small film just so he can get a better feel of his South African character. “You know how comedians, before they do their big HBO stand-up show, they do the Comedy Store or a smaller venue?” Boseman asked. “To me, this was an independent film, so it was a chance to play a character from the continent of Africa before doing Black Panther.”

He jokingly added that he has been preparing for this superhero role his whole life. “We've all played superheroes before,” he said. “What you were doing as a kid, the fun of it was if you actually had a suit, you would use it, and you got up and you did the movements. You took on the voice. You took on all of it. So it's not really different here. It's just bigger.”

“Black Panther,” which is directed by Ryan Coogler, is slated for release on Feb. 16, 2018.