Lupita Nyong’o still struggling to come to terms with loss of Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman

She’s due to star in a sequel to the blockbuster Marvel movie Black Panther.

And in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show set to air Tuesday, Lupita Nyong’o admitted that she’s still struggling to come to terms with the loss of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.

‘It’s still so hard for me to come to terms with his passing,’ the actress, 38, told Ellen.

Boseman, who posthumously won the outstanding actor in a leading role Screen Actors Guild Award Sunday for Netflix movie Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, died last August after a secret four-year battle with colon cancer.

‘He was my friend and so it’s hard to think of him in the past tense still,’ Nyong’o shared.

Reflecting on working with Boseman on Black Panther, the 12 years a Slave Oscar winner recalled: ‘He led the movie with such compassion and just presence.’

‘When Chadwick came on set, he was present and he brought his entire being to that movie and he was just so humble as well, you know.’

She added: ‘That leadership will be missed.’

First up though for Nyong’o will be the Apple TV+ limited series Lady In The Lake in which she will star with Natalie Portman. 

The drama is based on Laura Lippman’s bestseller of the same name and both actresses have also signed on to serve as executive producers on the project. 

Set in Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1960s, Lady In The Lake centers on housewife and mother Maddie Schwartz who sets out to investigate an unsolved murder in the city.

This brings her into conflict with Cleo Sherwood, a working mom and activist who supports Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda, according to THR.com.

Portman will play Schwartz and Nyong’o takes on the role of Sherwood.