Letitia Wright has been turning heads on every red carpet she’s stepped on since the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever world premiere in Los Angeles on October 26. It was there that the British actress who plays Shuri in the Marvel Comics superhero film debuted her new hairdo—a clean, low-cut fade unlike the style she wears in the new film.
“Everything is always intentional,” says the star when asked about her new cut. “I was on Zoom with Ryan before we started Black Panther and I had this mohawk of curls because I’d gotten to this place where I really started to love my hair and knew how to take care of her, she was just flourishing. And he was like, ‘I Kinda like this for Shuri.’
Wright liked the look for her character too, which includes shaved sides with undercuts. But then, she says, “I realized as we made that decision, the sides are going to take a long time to catch up to the front and I said, you know what, I could take a nice little restart.” Once Wright got the go ahead from Marvel she chopped off all of her curls in favor of the low look she has now. The change, says laughing, sparked an expected response from hardcore fans of the Black Panther franchise. “It was crazy because the supporters were like, ‘Now she’s giving comic book Shuri vibes.’”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters November 11. Check out our full interview with Wright and the newest member of the cast, Tenoch Huerta, in the video above.