Oscar winner Denzel Washington, best known for his starring roles in films like Fences, The Book of Eli, Training Day and Antone Fisher and The Equalizer series of films. has announced that he will have a role in Black Panther 3, in a role that Ryan Coogler is writing specifically for him. Marvel had not yet announced that there would be a third movie in the Black Panther series.

In an interview with Business Insider, Washington confirmed he was planning to retire in the next few years and would only do a few more movies.

Washington, who will next star opposite Paul Mescal in “Gladiator II,” has a busy few years lined up: he’s already booked to play the ancient military general Hannibal in a Netflix film directed by Antoine Fuqua and to reprise the role of Othello in a Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s play.

“I played Othello at 22, I’m now going to play it at 70,” he continued. “After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello. After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”

For a man approaching seventy, that sounds like he’s got enough on his platter.

No word yet as to what his role in Black Panther 3 will be. Perhaps an African-American bureaucrat who has to deal with I.S./Wakandan foreign affairs, Maybe a member of Thaddeus Ross’ Cabinet. perhaps a member of the royal council that advises the monarch of Wakanda. Perhaps Sam Wilson’s father. We’ll see in a few months. Disney has not yet confirmed there will be a Black Panther 3, let alone announced its release date.

Most critics agree the original Black Panther (2018) was one of the strongest movies in the MCU. RottenTomatoes.com rated it 96%. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) wasn’t as well-regarded by critics, but it earned $859.2 million dollars at the box office. There’s no reason to believe a third Black Panther movie wouldn’t do well. Wakanda is such a rich setting, it could inspire a dozen movies.

Variety explained “Washington’s involvement in a third Black Panther movie would be a full circle moment. Before his death in 2020, original “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman revealed that Washington paid for his acting school one summer and thus: “There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.”

“My whole cast stands on your shoulders,” Boseman told Washington while honoring him with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019. “The daily battles won, the thousand territories gained, the many sacrifices you made for the culture on film sets through your career, the things you refused to compromise along the way lay the blueprints for us to follow.”