Nearly six years after Chadwick Boseman’s death, his family is continuing his legacy through Boseman Family LLC.
Formed in the fall of 2025, the company isn’t a traditional family business.
Instead of opening a mom-and-pop shop, Boseman’s older brothers, Kevin and Derrick, are building a creative company rooted in storytelling, the arts and community impact.
“What inspired it was, of course, Chad had his own company, and there have been some offers that have come in to do work that is inspired by him, and we sort of felt the best way to tackle business, to partner with other businesses, was to start a business,” Kevin told AfroTech.
Derrick added, “I always ask God to put people in my path that will move me, or us, in the direction that he would have us to go in, and I have a friend who was always wanting me to meet somebody for a project, because of Chad, and for four or five years I always told him ‘No.'”
“The two people that I did talk to in the four or five year period, they didn’t seem right, so I didn’t want to deal with them,” he continued. “But, then, he wanted me to talk to these two ladies, and I went to talk to them, and they became our management team, and they’ve been very inspirational in everything that we’ve done.”
A different approach to generational wealth
While many families build generational wealth through financial assets, the Boseman brothers are taking a different approach by creating a company that develops projects centered on storytelling while creating opportunities for artists, independent creators and emerging voices in the entertainment industry.
Across its projects, the company aims to approach its work with respect for the creative community while continuing Chadwick’s passion for storytelling, artistic expression and cultural impact.
“There are a lot of family dynasties in entertainment,” Kevin explained. “Right now everybody’s talking about Michael Jackson and the Jacksons, but then you have the Wayans family, and so many Black entertainment families who, you know, the entire family is talented, and we actually have an incredibly talented family. Both of Derrick’s daughters are incredible singers. One of his sons is also a great singer, theater director, and actor. I, of course, have a background in theater and dance, and then the extended family [also consists of] photographers, musicians, filmmakers, and what we hope is that we will be able to all somehow create an ecosystem where we’re all feeding off of each other’s gifts and talents and supporting one another and creating together, and then also just genuinely supporting one another in our projects.”
Transforming grief into continued purpose
The official launch of Boseman Family LLC comes on the heels of a successful run of Chadwick’s play, Deep Azure, which made its U.K. premiere at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.
Derrick, a longtime Tennessee resident, brings more than 30 years of ministry, mentorship and community leadership. He said one of the ways the family has navigated its grief since losing their younger brother is by “continuing to move forward.”
“One of Chad’s plays is in London with Shakespeare’s Globe, but grief is such a tricky monster that it rises, and it falls, and there are, of course, five stages of grief, but they don’t come in any certain order,” he stated. “So, in dealing with Chad, it’s like you come almost in and out of grief, over and over again, because, one, we’re dealing with it still, so in trying to keep his memory going, it also keeps our memories going. For every project that we put our hands into, for every question that’s asked about him, it always brings back all these memories. Grief is an ongoing process.”
For Kevin, several projects over the years have helped him process his grief.
“In June of 2021, like nine months after he passed away, I was invited to perform, as a featured dancer, with this organization called Dance Against Cancer, which I think they’re celebrating maybe their 20th anniversary in New York City, and they host an annual dance performance with all of the stars of the big New York City dance companies, and that year I was their spokesperson,” he recounted. “I got to speak about my own cancer journey, speak about Chad’s cancer journey, and I also performed, so that was a wonderful opportunity to use my art to process grief.”
“I also choreographed a play that highly featured cancer in it,” Kevin added. “I often choose work – most of the work is about something quite deep, you know, social or health issues, and so it was wonderful to use my own grief and my own experience to bring life to the work.”
For Kevin, seeing Chadwick’s Deep Azure staged at Shakespeare’s Globe has been especially meaningful. He recalled the period when his late brother wrote the play.
“After he left Howard [University], he moved to New York,” he explained. “He lived with me for about nine months. I was dancing for Alvin Ailey at the time, and when I found out he was moving to New York, he was looking for a place, and I was like, ‘Why don’t you just stay in my apartment,’ because we toured about six months out of the year. I was on the road, so I was like, ‘Just stay in my apartment.'”
“It was wonderful to give him a soft landing place, because, of course, I didn’t charge him rent, and he was already a playwright. He had written a couple of plays, but I think he started working on that play, Deep Azure, when he was living with me, and I remember him, you know, talking about it. I saw the original production of it in Chicago, and was mesmerized and completely blown away by the structure, because it’s written in verse, like Shakespeare, and I think it was then that I was kind of like, ‘My brother is a genius.’ To write a modern play in verse, something that I hadn’t seen, but he was able to innovate verse and make it modern and add hip-hop to it, and seeing that play, I always wanted it to have more life, because I think that was the only main-stage big production of it. And I always envisioned it would be on a bigger stage, make it to Broadway. So, when Shakespeare’s Globe came to us, for me it was a no-brainer that such a venerable institution would be the first place to do it after his death.”
What’s next?
To commemorate what would have been Chadwick Boseman’s 50th birthday on Nov. 29, 2026, the Boseman brothers were tight-lipped about what’s to come but revealed they continue to build projects they believe their brother would be proud of.
“He told both of us separately to use his work and to use the work that he had done to move forward, to use it in our own lives,” Derrick concluded. “I think he’d be proud. I think he’d be grateful. Fame was not something that Chad was looking for. Chad really just enjoyed doing the work, and fame came with that, but I think he would be proud of us.”
