Word of Gurira’s return to the MCU came via a brief mention in a power list of Hollywood lawyers in THR, stating that her lawyer, Jamie Mandelbaum, had “brokered a deal for [her] to not only reprise her role as Okoye in the upcoming Black Panther sequel but also in an origin spinoff series for Disney+.” Gurira’s continued presence in the franchise isn’t a huge surprise: her character Okoye heads up Wakanda’s Dora Milaje (an elite corps of bodyguards and special forces personnel) and military, and played a key role in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and