During this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Academy Award-winning director Ryan Coogler — who took home his first trophy at the 2026 ceremony thanks to his audacious vampire film “Sinners” — made a surprise announcement. For “Black Panther 3,” which is set to release in December 2028, British actor David Jonsson has been cast in the role of King T’Challa’s (the late Chadwick Boseman) secret son, who is also called T’Challa.
This is, for anyone even fleetingly familiar with Jonsson, great news. In particular, anyone who saw 2025’s “The Long Walk” knows precisely how excellent he is as a performer. In one of the very best Stephen King adaptations ever made for the big screen, Jonsson plays Pete McVries, a young man who, alongside Cooper Hoffman’s Raymond “Ray” Garraty, joins the titular contest: a walk to the death featuring one chosen boy from each U.S. state, where the last man standing wins a cash prize and one guaranteed, fulfilled wish. Without spoiling anything that happens, the bond that grows between Pete and Ray throughout “The Long Walk” is extraordinary to watch, and Jonsson delivers a great performance throughout.
Jonsson might still be early in his career, but it’s a genius choice to cast someone who’s not already wildly famous but has the acting chops to succeed Boseman in a lead role in the “Black Panther” franchise. If you’re into prestige HBO dramas, you’ve also seen what Jonsson can do with a good script and a fully realized character.
David Jonsson is an amazing young talent with some seriously layered roles on his resumé
Mickey Downs and Konrad Kay’s frankly spectacular HBO series “Industry” keeps getting completely shut out at the Emmy Awards, but I am imploring more people to watch it … especially now that we know that David Jonsson is taking on such a huge role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “Black Panther 3.” In the first two seasons of “Industry” Jonsson plays Augustus “Gus” Sackey, one of a handful of fresh-faced new recruits working at the high-flying London finance firm Pierpoint & Co. With degrees from both Oxford and Eton, Gus is exceedingly brilliant and openly queer, which sets him apart on the hyper-masculine floor of Pierpoint. He nurses a pretty bad crush on his best friend Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey, who also left the show).
The issue with Gus on “Industry” is that he’s a person who genuinely tries to do the right thing whenever possible, which sets him apart from, well, every other character. Still, I think it’s pretty interesting that two of Jonsson’s most high-profile roles have him as a teenager and a professional adult, respectively; it shows off Jonsson’s considerable range as a performer. Add in other projects like “Alien: Romulus” and “Rye Lane,” and I’m sold. If you want to acquaint yourself with Jonsson’s work before “Black Panther 3,” comes out, try “The Long Walk” or “Industry” — they both happen to be available on HBO Max.
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