Michael B. Jordan Admits To Needing Therapy After Playing Killmonger
In a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning (via The Hollywood Reporter), Michael B. Jordan opened up about why he needed to go into therapy after playing the villain Killmonger in the 2018 MCU movie Black Panther.
The actor, who spoke about how he fully immersed himself in the role, said, “After the movie, it kind of stuck with me for a bit. Went to therapy, talked about it, found a way to kind of just decompress. And I think at that point, I was still learning that I needed to decompress from a character. You know, there’s no blueprint to this.”
Jordan went on to say how he prepared for the role by spending a lot of time in isolation, not speaking to his family to maintain a level of focus. “Acting is a solo journey a lot of times”, he mentioned, “auditioning by yourself, practising by yourself. There’s a lot of preparation and the experience, and the journey. So learning as I went, I [realised] that, ‘Oh man, I still got a little something on me I need to get off.’” You know, talking is really important.”
He also added that “Erik didn’t really know a lot of love. I think Erik didn’t experience that. He had a lot of betrayal, a lot of failed systems around him that shaped him and his anger and his frustration. And looking at history and how it would seem to always repeat itself, and how was he going to break that cycle?”
Black Panther was the third collaboration between Jordan and director Ryan Coogler. The pair would later reunite for the 2025 hit Sinners. The Marvel movie won three Oscars and went on to gross $1.349 billion worldwide. It received a sequel in 2022, which was once again directed by Coogler, titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in which Jordan reprised the role of Erik Killmonger for a brief cameo.
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