When Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer in late 2020, the superhero franchise’s future was uncertain. While some fans couldn’t imagine anyone else in the titular role, others called for writer and director Ryan Coogler to recast Boseman’s T’Challa.

Ultimately, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Coogler decided against recasting Boseman. Instead, Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole incorporated the actor’s death into the script for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, depicting a nation in mourning and a new person donning the Black Panther suit—a decision that star Lupita Nyong’o says “honored the truth” of the film’s cast and crew.

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“Ryan wrote something that so honored the truth of what every one of us was feeling, those of us who knew Chadwick,” Nyong’o shared with The Hollywood Reporter in a recent profile. “He created something that could honor that and carry the story forward. By the end, I was weeping.”

Nyong’o Says She Can’t Be Unbiased in Conversations Around Recasting Boseman: ‘I Don’t Have the Patience for That’

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Although Nyong’o, who played Wakandan activist and spy (as well as T’Challa’s off-and-on love interest) Nakia in 2018’s Black Panther, says that she understands that fans don’t want to lose the character, she simply cannot be unbiased in conversations revolving around recasting Boseman.

“That is not the death of the Black Panther, that’s the whole point. It’s laying to rest [T’Challa] and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies,” the actress said.

Close friends off-screen, Nyong’o previously said that being around Boseman made her feel like a better person. “When I was around Chadwick, I wanted to be better, less petty, more purposeful,” she wrote in a heartfelt statement following news of the actor’s death. “He was fueled by love, not fear. He moved quietly, deliberately, and without imposing himself or his ideals on others. And yet, he also made damn sure that his life meant something. He was so unwavering about that.”

And that, like so many of his co-stars and loved ones have corroborated, made Boseman irreplaceable.

“I know that there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast, but I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the presence of mind, or I don’t have the objectivity to argue with that. I don’t. I’m very biased,” she said.

Starring Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, and Winston Duke, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.