Everything Has a Story in Wakanda Forever

Production designer Hannah Beachler breaks down the history hiding in the sequel's two worlds.

- By Roxana Hadadi

Part of the North Triangle set included a re-creation of Nelson Mandela's blue rondavel.

In the spectacular opening, a public funeral for King T'Challa winds through the capital.

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER is in theaters now.

To build the world of 2018's Black Panther, production designer Hannah Beachler spent a year and a half putting together a planning document commonly referred to in the industry as a bible. Not everyone's is 550 pages, though, nor does it help them win an Academy Award. For Wakanda Forever, Beachler's work doubled. She had to both expand on the locations of the first film and craft a second whole new world: the subaquatic realm of Talokan, led by the anti-hero K'uk'ulkan/Namor.

It's a confidently specific visual feast, one dense with references to Yucatec Mayan culture, influenced by what Beachler describes as director Ryan Coogler's "hard sci-fi" preferences and populated by the oceanic flora and fauna beside which the Talokanil live. The sets were designed and constructed to emphasize practical effects, like the movie's use of underwater filming. Here, Beachler breaks down four key locations. (And, yes, her bible was once again a mammoth.)

1. The Funeral Procession