Though Ironheart executive producer Ryan Coogler wasn’t initially thinking of a spinoff series for Dominique Thorne‘s Riri Williams — first introduced in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a young Chicagoan tech wiz — once Marvel‘s team approached him about it, the character’s future in the MCU was set in stone.
“No, no, I like to take things one step at a time,” Coogler told Deadline on the red carpet at today’s Los Angeles premiere for the Disney+ series held at the El Capitan Theatre.
The Sinners helmer said the character of Riri first came about as a “foil to [Letitia Wright’s] Shuri,” someone who could showcase her growth as she filled a “mentor” and “big sister” role. It wasn’t until the creative team was “down the road” on the film that he was approached by fellow Ironheart executive producers Brad Winderbaum and Zoie Nagelhout about a show.
“It was obviously complicated, wanting to make sure that we were leaving enough room while establishing who Riri was, but it’s been so exciting,” Coogler said.
The series also serves as the MCU’s introduction of spectral magic meeting tech via the villainous character The Hood (Anthony Ramos), a low-level criminal who stumbles upon a magical cloak powered by the same forces depicted in Doctor Strange.
“It’s so crazy to be putting this movie out now, at the time where AI is on the front of everybody’s mind, technological ethics are on the front of everybody’s mind,” Coogler noted, “but also — we didn’t know it was going to be Dr. Doom and the Avengers when we first started, but he’s a guy in publishing who’s most famous for fusing technology and magic, so it’s a great sample of things that are to come in probably what’s going to be the biggest movie in Marvel history.”
Separately, when asked about an update on the script for Black Panther 3, Coogler said he’s currently “working” on it.
For her part, Thorne teased how her STEM-oriented protagonist will deal with the “more mystical side of things. We definitely see her family, her mother try to kind of welcome her into that in a very rudimentary way and also really spiritual way that she is not at all interested in, so I think it’s a hilarious journey and also a really tempting journey that we see her go on once she realizes the full extent and capability of the magic side of the world.”
Ironheart premieres on Disney+ tomorrow, with a three-episode drop.