Michaela Coel has admitted she “wasn’t ready” for her role in the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever, saying she struggled with acting in front of a greenscreen.

Fresh from the success of her critically-acclaimed 2020 series I May Destroy You, the writer and actor landed a small part playing warrior Aneka in Ryan Coogler’s Wakanda Forever.

But while Coel, 38, had more than proven herself worthy of the role, she’s now said she felt “a little astray” on the set.

The star explained to The Hollywood Reporter: “I really don’t think I was ready for that world of greenscreen acting. I literally don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to act when something isn’t there. It’s a skill that I had not quite possessed.

“I feel like a different version of me would serve that well, but when one is not quite prepared for a job, it’s also quite hard to feel like I’m serving it – and then I’m not serving the story.

“And then what am I doing here then? I love Ryan Coogler so much. But I feel like I was a little astray.”

Director Coogler began plotting for the Black Panther sequel following the huge success of the first movie in 2018. But the plans were devastatingly derailed in August 2020 when T’Challa actor Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer.

It was decided that Boseman’s role would not be recast, and Wakanda Forever instead saw his much-loved character die off-screen, leaving his family to grieve and focus on his legacy.

Adding that she watched her co-star Angela Bassett “kill her scenes”, Coel mused: “It is a different world, and I think it’s different muscles.

“The muscle easier to use for me is in that intimate, small room – two people, heavy, thick dialogue, psychological. This is what I really enjoy.”

This year is a busy one for Coel, who is currently filming her long-awaited new series, First Day On Earth.

The 10-episode series – which marks her return to writing following I May Destroy You six years ago – will feature Coel as the lead character, Henri, a British writer who travels to Ghana to visit her estranged father.

She’ll also be on the big screen in two films set for release this month: Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, in which she stars opposite Sir Ian McKellen, and Mother Mary, A24’s musical thriller about a stylist (Coel) who reunites with her pop star client (Anne Hathaway) after estrangement.