The Creative Arts Emmys have done what the Oscars could not and given Chadwick Boseman a posthumous award. He won Outstanding Character Voice-over Performance for the What If …? episode “What If … T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” Boseman recorded his parts on the Disney+ show before his untimely death from colon cancer in 2020. In the episode, it is T’Challa who gets kidnapped by the Ravagers rather than Peter Quill. Using his super diplomacy skills, T’Challa convinces Thanos to give up his snap aspirations and also frees every life-form from Taneleer Tivan’s collection — thus erasing the back half of Phase 3 and the Disney California Adventure ride Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT!
Boseman beat out F. Murray Abraham (Moon Knight), Julie Andrews (Bridgerton), Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth), Stanley Tucci (Central Park), Jessica Walter (Archer) and Jeffrey Wright (also Marvel’s What If…?) for the Emmy. His widow, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the award on his behalf. “When I learned that Chad was nominated for this award, I started thinking about everything that was going on when he was recording — everything that was going on in the world and in our world and just being in such awe of his commitment and his dedication,” she said in her acceptance speech, per The Hollywood Reporter. She also noted the synchronicity of her late husband being recognized for a series about the universe’s infinite possibilities, something Boseman thought about often. “You can’t understand your purpose unless you’re willing to ask, ‘What if,’” she said, “unless you’re willing to say, ‘What if the universe is conspiring in my favor, what if it’s me?’”
