Due to a fateful coincidence, costars Chadwick Boseman and Angela Bassett first crossed paths when the future superhero was about to graduate from the historically Black college, Howard University. There, Boseman was part of the class of 2000 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. In 2018, the “42” actor was invited back to his alma mater to deliver that year’s commencement speech. Before the ceremony, Boseman visited “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” where he discussed the “full circle” moment of how Bassett was the one who spoke at his own graduation, and now they star in “Black Panther” together. When host Kelly Ripa asked if the Oscar-nominated actor knew about this story, Boseman coyly answered, “She knows, yes.”
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After his unexpected death in 2020 due to colon cancer, Bassett reminisced on this other-worldly coincidence and how Boseman actually reminded her of that 2000 graduation ceremony. “It was meant to be for Chadwick and me to be connected, for us to be family,” she wrote in an emotional tribute for the beloved actor. “During the premiere party for Black Panther, Chadwick reminded me of something. He whispered that when I received my honorary degree from Howard University, his alma mater, he was the student assigned to escort me that day. And here we were, years later as friends and colleagues, enjoying the most glorious night ever!”
