Black Panther has nabbed the top gong at the 25th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, giving the superhero sensation its most significant awards-season honour yet and potentially setting up Wakanda for a major role at next month's Academy Awards.
The two leading Oscar nominees — Roma and The Favourite — were bypassed by the actors guild for a Best Ensemble field that also included BlacKkKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born.
But though Black Panther was not nominated for any individual SAG Awards, it took home the final award at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
Before a stage of actors, Chadwick Boseman tried to put the moment into context for the trailblazing Black Panther, which also won for its stunt performer ensemble.
"To be young, gifted and black," he said, quoting the Nina Simone song.
"We know what it's like to be told there isn't a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on.
"We know what's like to be beneath and not above. And that is what we went to work with every day.
"We knew that we could create a world that exemplified a world we wanted to see. We knew that we had something to give."
The win puts Black Panther squarely in contention for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
In the last decade, the SAG ensemble winner has gone on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards half of the time.
