When Denzel Washington wills something into the world, evidently it will happen and very soon. That appears to be the case with Black Panther 3, which has today been confirmed as officially in development by Marvel Studios‘ head honcho Kevin Feige. The announcement came as almost a side-note to the news that longtime Marvel exec Nate Moore, a pivotal figure in bringing Black Panther to life, would be leaving the company to focus on his producing career. Feige and fellow Marvel legend Louis D’Esposito released a statement hailing Moore‘s contibutions to the company as well as confirming his involvement in the new film:

“Nate is a fantastic executive and colleague as well as a wonderful friend to all of us here at Marvel Studios. He has been a core member of our team since 2010, and his influence will continue to reverberate in our storytelling. Although we’ll miss him a great deal, we look forward to watching what he does next while also having the good fortune of working with him in a new way on our next Black Panther movie.”

Will Denzel Washington Be in ‘Black Panther 3’?

Now, the news of a third Black Panther movie isn’t a huge surprise. As previously mentioned, we had heard that it might be on the way when Washington, while on the promotional trail for Gladiator II. The Equalizer actor casually mentioned it in an interview with Today Show Australia, while discussing the hopes and goals he had left for his career. Washington explained that he only had a few roles left in him before retirement, not including two more runs at The Equalizer with Antoine Fuqua, and slyly dropped the Black Panther bombshell.

“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” said Washington. “I don’t know how many more films I’m gonna make; it’s probably not that many. I wanna do things that I haven’t done. I played Othello at 22, I’m about to play Othello at 70, and after that I’m playing Hannibal. I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film, after that Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. I’ll do King Lear on Broadway and then I’m going to retire.”

There’s no release date or window for Black Panther 3, yet. Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are both currently available to stream on Disney+ now.

via Collider