Lupita Nyong’o had a weight lifted from her shoulders in memorializing late actor Chadwick Boseman in the new horror/sci-fi film A Quiet Place: Day One.
Nyong’o, who plays Samira in the flick, spoke to People about the character having cancer, which Boseman succumbed to in 2020 at age 43. The two starred as King T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, and Nakia in the inaugural movie of the Marvel franchise back in 2018.
In the Michael Sarnoski-directed Quiet Place prequel, Samira comes face-to-face with aliens with a heightened sensitivity to sound, which leads to an apocalypse, all while she’s fighting terminal cancer.
Nyong’o confessed to People that it was “scary to have to go there,” adding that Samira “is really facing their mortality, even before this apocalypse takes place, and whose life is slipping between her fingers.”
“That was daunting to have to go there, psychologically and emotionally,” the 41-year-old Oscar winner said.
Ultimately, taking on the role was necessary for her healing process after the unexpected loss of Boseman.
“In the end, it was actually very therapeutic because I had just experienced not too many years ago the death of Chadwick Boseman, which shook me to my core,” N’yongo told the outlet about playing Samira. “I definitely was thinking about that a lot.”
