Chadwick Boseman Wins Posthumous Emmy Award

Chadwick Boseman received another posthumous honor over the weekend. The actor won an Emmy Award on Saturday night for voicing T’Challa in Marvel’s Disney+ What If…? series during the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony. This was his last contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe before his death in August 2020 at 43.

Boseman was nominated in the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance category. He beat out F. Murray Abraham (Moon Knight), Julie Andrews (Bridgerton), Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth), Stanley Tucci (Central Park), and Jeffrey Wright (What If…?). Jessica Walter, who died in March 2021 at 80, also received a posthumous nomination in the category for Archer.

What If…? is the first animated series from Marvel Studios that is considered part of the MCU. Each episode was set in alternate worlds and was inspired by the Marvel Comics series of the same name. Boseman was featured in the “What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” episode, in which T’Challa becomes Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy). Boseman also played T’Challa on the big screen in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, and the last two Avengers movies. He voiced the character in several other What If…? episodes as well.

Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted Boseman’s award on his behalf at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. “When I learned that Chad was nominated for this award, I started thinking about everything that was going on when he was recording – everything that was going on in the world and in our world and just being in such awe of his commitment and his dedication,” Ledward told the crowd, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

“And what a beautifully aligned moment it really is that one of the last things he would work on would not only be revisiting a character that was so important to him and his career and to the world, but also that it be an exploration of something new, diving into a new potential future – particularly with everything he spoke about purpose and finding the reason that you are here on the planet on this very time,” Ledward said. “You can’t understand your purpose unless you’re willing to ask, ‘What if,’ unless you’re willing to say, ‘What if the universe is conspiring in my favor, what if it’s me?’ Thank you so much for the honor – Chad would be so honored, and I’m honored on his behalf.”

Boseman died in August 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer. He left behind an incredible body of work during his short career. His final film was Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which earned him a posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The film earned him a posthumous Screen Actors Guild Award. Filmmaker Ryan Coogler chose not to recast the role of T’Challa for the Black Panther sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which opens on Nov. 11.