Marvel’s “Blade” just can’t seem to unsheathe its vampire-killing sword. As we recapped recently in a piece where we suggested several directors who could take over the project, “Blade” in its development since 2019, has gone through two directors and a litany of writers attached to different versions of the film.
But a new THR piece documenting the “Blade” development problems, “Why ‘Blade’ Can’t Cut Through Development Hell,” has a few more tidbits of information and has confirmed a lot of the rumors that have been floating around.
READ MORE: ‘Blade’: 5 Directors That Could Take Over Marvel’s Delayed Vampire Hunter Film
For one, let’s start with the cast. While we already know “Underground Railroad” star Aaron Pierre exited the film because of the delays, Marvel has also let go of actor Delroy Lindo from the project, presumably because his part was either cut from the film—given how many versions of the script there’s been—but also possibly because the option on the actor has expired. Miraculously, “MaXXXine” star Mia Goth remains attached to “Blade” playing Lilith, a vampire villain named Lilith who wants the blood of Blade’s daughter, which confirms online rumors of her character.
Lilith has been rumored to stick around within the MCU, so that might be another reason why she’s still part of the project. Also, echoing stories from the past, THR says the film’s star, Mahershala Ali, is “said to be increasingly frustrated” with the slow development of the film. He may have been something of its own bottleneck, too (reports last fall said he was considering leaving the project).
The trade says, “Ali has, at times, exercised an inordinate amount of influence over the project, in a way few other actors have on Marvel movies.” He handpicked the film’s previous director, Yann Demange, after turning down and disliking Marvel’s choices, and he also was the one that got Marvel to fork out a pretty penny to pay “True Detective” writer Nic Pizzolatto to write a new draft (which didn’t last very long because then the 2023 writer’s strike hit).
“Ali conducted his own search after having concerns that the list largely featured filmmakers who were untested at the big studio level,” the trade reported.
As we recently noted, Ali’s lawyer has recently made exasperated comments about how long this movie has taken to get made, and even former “Blade” star Wesley Snipes threw some shade at its problems online.
“Blade” was originally said to be a small-budget movie, but apparently has already spent millions on building sets that aren’t being used because the script has changed. The report also confirms the online rumors that “Blade” was originally going to be set in the 1920s so an expensive and massive train set that was built for the film has been scrapped (Disney may try and save it for something else so it doesn’t all go to waste). The subtext of the article: “Blade” has already spent a fortune and hasn’t even started production, which will make it even tougher if it remains R-rated to recoup.
“Blade” is now apparently set in present day—probably less expensive and an easier way for the character to interconnect with the current MCU— and there’s already rumors of a follow-up “Midnight Sons” movie in the works.
All and all, “Blade” has gone through six writers: Stacy Osei-Kuffour (“Watchmen”), Beau DeMayo (“X-Men ’97”), Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Starrbury (“When They See Us“), Michael Green (“Blade Runner 2049”) and most recently, Eric Pearson, a Marvel closer for known for pushing their films over the finish line like “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Black Widow” and “Fantastic Four.”
What seems clear is that recent rumors that “Blade” would shoot this fall seem false. The new evidently plan calls for the script to be written over the summer—again? In addition to Pearson?— and then go out to directors. That likely means Marvel won’t be announcing a “Blade” director at Comic-Con or D23, which take place this summer, and given a new director may have different takes and updates and need pre-production time, a fall start date seems eminently premature.
“Blade” is currently scheduled for November 2025, but that’s clearly not happening, especially given Marvel’s mandate to not release more than two or three films a year. At best, November 2026, an open Marvel date seems feasible, but if they truly cut things down to three films a year, that slot will eventually go away, too. The gist of it all? “Blade” continues to be super slow going, but Marvel’s seemingly invested too much into it to just let it go.
