Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came and conquered fans’ hearts! While T’Challa and Nakia’s love bore sweet fruit in the post-credit of the movie there’s another love story fans are rooting for after the film. Tenoch Huerta Mejía and Letitia Wright’s on-screen chemistry as Namor and Shuri has propelled fans to believe there’s more between them than meets the eye! In a recent interview with Rolling Stones, Huerta reveals that the perceived romantic angle was never intended for the movie and that the relationship between the two “doesn’t need to be romantic to be deep.
In Wakanda Forever, Namor and Shuri find themselves at odds as the former isn’t sure about Wakanda’s allegiance and comes to destroy it. Shuri rises as Wakanda’s new protector to stand against him. Things take a turn when Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) and Shuri are captured and taken to Talokan where the two interact for the first time. As two different people coming from similar roots and defending their kingdoms from the outside world, they share a similar worldview as well. Huerta doesn’t “feel it was a romantic touch [between them].” Rather for him, it was more “a human, intimate touch,” he said. The actor further attributes their chemistry and connection to being the protectors of their people and facing similar threats,
“I mean in the history of their kingdoms, the history of their people, they share the same root, and the threat comes from the same place for both of them, for the same reason. They both face threats from Western countries like the United States and France in the story, because of vibranium, natural resources. I think they connect in that aspect.”
When probed about whether the romantic angle that translated in their performances was deliberate he said, “The beautiful part of this relationship is, it doesn’t need to be romantic to be deep,” the actor said. He feels their connection doesn’t necessarily needs to end up being a romantic one. “It doesn’t need to be romantic to be beautiful and bright and intimate. And this connection between a man and a woman in different levels doesn’t need, necessarily, to end in a romantic relationship. And that’s beautiful, you know? Because I hate the romantic love. I think it’s poison,” he laughed. Further, citing the magic of the movies he added, “These characters, they create something… I don’t know. It was magical, but not necessarily romantic.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theatres now. You can check out the trailer below:
