A Star-Lord spin-off following Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa from Marvel Studios' What If...? was in the works. In the second episode of the series, T'Challa became the Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill, and the universe was in a much better place than the main MCU.
Marvel Studios' What If...? is an animated television show based on the Marvel comic books of the same name, which tell alternate stories that divert from the current or original canon. It follows the Watcher, who sees all and explains how the smallest change can make the biggest impact in the universe of Marvel comics.
What If...? has been getting overall positive reviews around the comic book community. Fans would like to see follow-ups to many of the episodes due to them ending on a cliffhanger, while other episodes end on a very dark note, which is a nice change of pace from the canon timeline that also makes fans appreciate the lighthearted movies. Series director Bryan Andrews revealed one of the episodes that ended on a 'cliffhanger' was actually meant to start a whole new series. The episode in question was the one where Boseman's Black Panther becomes Star-Lord. The creators were fortunate enough to have been able to have Chadwick record all of his lines in the What If...? series prior to his passing. "I think he was also trying to make an effort because T’Challa was so important to him — and also this new version of Star-Lord T’Challa was so important to him. He dug it," the director said about the late iconic actor during an interview with Variety.
The director continued on, discussing the potential future plans they had for the character in the animated spin-off. "I don’t know if he knew this, but there was planning to have Star-Lord T’Challa spin off into his own show with that universe and that crew and that whole thing... We were all very excited. We know he would have loved it, too. And then, you know, he passed, and so all that’s in limbo. So, who knows? Maybe one day." The passing of Boseman also altered plans for Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, though it has yet to be announced how the sequel will move forward without the lead star of the first film.
T'Challa becoming Star-Lord really made it clear how much of a better character he is than Peter Quill from a personality and moral perspective. T'Challa managed to talk Thanos out of his quest for universe-wide genocide, which had long-lasting repercussions such as Gamora never being abducted, Nebula never getting cyborg modifications, and Guardians of the Galaxy technically not being formed.
What If...? season 1 is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Variety