Yup one thing I expect out of Ridley is for him to downsize the supporting characters and center his story around T’Challa and whatever arc he has planned for the character. No more bloated supporting casts where there’s 3-4 other characters basically get top billing in the book, which will make for better pacing and stronger character work. T’Challa needs someone that can dive into his beliefs, motivations, worldview, etc. and I hope that’s something Ridley would want to do like he has with Jace.
You’re right that he doesn’t have a habit of deemphasizing his male protagonists so maybe we can also see T’Challa develop a dynamic with at least 1 or two male supporting characters, which has been absent from BP for years now. T’Chaka’s dead (though in spirit I suspect he’ll be influential) but maybe MCU synergy compels him to bring back Zuri. And we do have NuM’Baku around.
My hope is a solid supporting cast of 4: Shuri, Okoye, M’Baku, and someone like Kasper, all playing distinct roles with personalities that highlight T’Challa while giving them some development. Gimme a few arcs of that then over time he can introduce a non-Storm love interest IMO. But all of this comes down to his interviews lol. If he’s gonna be talking Intergalactic Wakanda and Dora rebellions I’m checking out before issue #1 is released lol.