Ryan Coogler honored Chadwick Boseman in a meaningful way.
At the "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" premiere in Hollywood on Wednesday night, the director wore a necklace with the late actor's image on the pendant.
The necklace, which is black and gold, has a dog tag-shaped pendant with an imprint of Boseman.
"It was a necklace that I had made while we were getting ready to start filming because I wanted to keep him close to me," Coogler told "Good Morning America."
Boseman, who died at the age of 43 in 2020 from colon cancer, played King T'Challa, the titular superhero Black Panther, in the Marvel film. He made his first appearance as the character in "Captain America: Civil War" in 2016 before starring in his own stand-alone film two years later.
Marvel Studios revealed that the part of King T'Challa will not be recast.
"It was a difficult decision, for everybody," Coogler said about moving forward with "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." "But eventually, after thinking about it long enough, it became very clear what we had to do and I think that as we got going, the momentum kept up and it felt like he was always with us and it felt like we were keeping him around by working -- if that makes sense."
"I hope we made him proud," Coogler added.
