Wright co-starred in the 2018 film Black Panther, playing the role of Shuri, King T'Challa's sister and princess of Wakanda. Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film also starred Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira. Wright won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture for her work in the film, and reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War, which was released two months later. Also in 2018, Wright appeared as Reb in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the 2011 science-fiction novel Ready Player One. Wright features as one of the cameos in Drake's music video for "Nice for What".
In 2018 Wright was also featured in a play called The Convert, which was played at the Young Vic theatre in England/London. The play was based on an English-speaking missionary in the 19th century, where the Africans were trained to speak Victorian English and engage in Christianity. This play was set in 1895, when a Black male catholic teacher and missionary called Chilford occupies a mission house in Rhodesian Salisbury. Wright plays the character of a Jekesai, a young Rhodesia girl that is being forced into marriage by her uncle, but luckily is saved by Chilford.
In November 2018 it was announced that Wright would be starring alongside John Boyega in a novel adaption of Hold Back The Stars. Wright will appear in 2020's Death on the Nile. She has also been cast in Steve McQueen's upcoming mini-series Small Axe.
Wright has been vocal about her struggles with depression. In 2018, she told Vanity Fair that when she first experienced depression at the age of 20, she "was in the dark going through so many bad things". Wright credits her Christian faith for helping her overcome her depression, which she discovered after attending a London actors' Bible study meeting. To focus on her recovery and her faith, she declined film roles. She later explained she "needed to take a break from acting" and "went on a journey to discover my relationship with God, and I became a Christian."