Black Panther actress Connie Chiume says she was surprised when she was told her popular Rhythm City character Mamokete was being cut from the soapie.

It has been less than a year since it was announced that Connie had left the e.tv drama and speaking on Trending SA this week‚ Connie said she still didn't know why her character was written out of the show.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t belong to me‚ it belongs to the owners of the drama. So they decided that Mamokete's character should be written out and‚ so it was written out. It’s something that we didn’t expect‚ even myself."

She said that Mamokete was a much-loved part of the soapie's fictional community and could have stayed longer.

"I thought that Mamokete being the woman that she is‚ who is a community worker‚ who is mothering almost everyone in the community‚ you would have thought she could stay longer but she didn’t‚ so I don't know"

Connie will hit international screens later this year when she plays a mining tribe elder in Marvel's Black Panther.

She told TshisaLIVE that she was blown away by the production.

"I have worked on many international films shot in South Africa but this is the first time that I have worked on an international film based in America. It was amazing and a completely different experience‚" she said.