Cancer Storyline in Quiet Place Prequel Was Therapeutic

Lupita Nyong’o is opening up about playing a woman with cancer in A Quiet Place: Day One and why it was a personal and “therapeutic” experience for her.

In the Michael Sarnoski-written and directed film, the Oscar-winning actress portrays Sam, a poet who is not only battling terminal cancer but also aliens hunting humans based on sound.

Nyong’o recently told People magazine that it was “scary to have to go there” for a role that sees her character “really facing their mortality, even before this apocalypse takes place and whose life is slipping between her fingers.”

“That was daunting to have to go there, psychologically and emotionally,” she added.

But the role was notably personal because her close friend and Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman died at 43 following a private battle with colon cancer in August 2020.

“In the end, it was actually very therapeutic because I had just experienced not too many years ago the death of Chadwick Boseman, which shook me to my core,” Nyong’o explained. “I definitely was thinking about that a lot.”

“What I came to realize is that it’s really important to be reminded of our mortality because then we live life just a little more intentionally,” the Us actress continued. “When we think we have all the time in the world, we can really take people for granted and experiences for granted.”

Shortly after Boseman’s death, Nyong’o paid tribute in a lengthy Instagram post, writing in part at the time, “When we came together to make Black Panther, I remember being struck by his quiet, powerful presence. He had no airs about him, but there was a higher frequency that he seemed to operate from. You got the sense that he was fully present and also somehow fully aware of things in the distant future. As a result, I noticed that Chadwick never seemed rushed! He commanded his time with ease…and he put in the work with all of us.”

The Quiet Place prequel, currently playing in theaters, also stars Joseph Quinn and is set in New York City during the early stages of an alien invasion.