Five years after Chadwick Boseman’s passing, the late actor was honored with the 2,828th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Thursday, November 20.
His wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman, accepted the honor on his behalf, joined by friends, collaborators, and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. Viola Davis, Michael B. Jordan, and Letitia Wright were also in attendance, celebrating a career that reshaped what was possible for Black storytelling on screen. The ceremony also marked a rare public appearance for Chadwick’s two older brothers, Derrick and Kevin Boseman.
Later that afternoon at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, The Knockturnal sat with Derrick and Kevin for an intimate conversation about art, family, and the responsibility of carrying forward a legacy built with so much intention.
Kevin began by describing the surreal feeling of the day:
“This is a momentous moment… the pinnacle in a way of being a Hollywood actor. We were on the journey with Chad from the beginning, from his first ideas of becoming an actor, auditioning in New York, getting a lot of rejection… but I always believed in him. His career was surreal. To be here today and know it was all built on intention and purpose is incredible.”
He shared that a family friend, also an actor, recently reminded them how rare Chadwick’s rise truly was, especially for a Black actor, and how much it meant to see him play figures like Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall with such depth and clarity.
When I asked why he always believed his brother would succeed, Kevin smiled:
“He was always sort of mystical… there was a deep spirituality about him. Even as a kid, he always knew exactly what he wanted to do.”
Derrick added context from their childhood home, a bedroom filled wall-to-wall with encyclopedias and books:
“I think it starts with God,” he said. “And in the bedroom we grew up in — this big volume of encyclopedias and books about Black history. As a little boy, I would read about all these icons, and so would he, men like Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown. So when he played them, he was living what he’d studied. He was born to do what he did, for such a time as this.”
I asked if Chadwick would have enjoyed the Walk of Fame moment, and Derrick answered honestly:
“He would’ve come, smiled for the cameras… but it wasn’t about Oscars or stars. It wasn’t about being famous. It was about the art, the work, and telling our stories. This medium allows Black stories to be told. That’s what he cared about.”
The brothers spoke about what Chadwick was like behind closed doors: disciplined, spiritual, and endlessly focused. Derrick told me:
“He exercised, prayed, and meditated, in no certain order, every single day. We would be home for the holidays, and we have a formal living room. He would go into that living room and sit for thirty, forty minutes meditating. He was a third-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu. His workouts were otherworldly. All those fight scenes — that was him. He didn’t really need a bodyguard. If they were there, they were in the shadows. He added, “He was always working. Even during holidays, he’d be writing in a notebook.”
And Kevin added:
“He had an unrelenting focus. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he couldn’t be distracted.”
When I asked which role Chadwick was most proud of, Derrick shared a story about the moment Chad was offered the chance to play James Brown after 42:
“He called me one day and said, ‘Man, I don’t know… if I keep playing these historical figures, I might get typecast.’
I told him, ‘If you play James Brown as if you were James Brown, they’ll know you can do anything.’
And after that, we never had another conversation about what roles he could get. He wrote his own ticket.”
Many don’t realize Chadwick wasn’t just an actor, but also an equally talented playwright and screenwriter. Kevin revealed he and Derrick are now producing one of his plays, Deep Azure, in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, set to open in February 2026.
The Boseman family is also developing a community-centered foundation inspired by Chadwick’s values and a scene from his own work in Black Panther — a moment in which his character, T’Challa, builds a Wakandan outreach center for youth.
Derrick explained:
“We want it to be a place where you can get funded for your dream, even if it’s not acting. If you want to be a lawyer, a doctor, a truck driver, a barber, a nail tech… anything. And we want to address the ills our people face: mental health, drugs, and health issues. We want something that helps our people overcome — not keep saying ‘we shall overcome.’”
Even in a short interview, Derrick and Kevin Boseman’s warmth, clarity, and pride were unmistakable. And as they move forward, producing Chadwick’s work, building his foundation, and honoring him in ways both public and deeply personal, it is abundantly clear that Chadwick’s legacy is still alive and unfolding.
