From rocky relationships with directors to allegedly almost exiting the project altogether, Mahershala Ali’s journey at Blade has been rough.
At one point, it felt like this project would be canned when Kevin Feige and the higher-ups at Disney began to clean house, but something kept this new take on the iconic Marvel vampire hunter alive.
Now, we’re getting insight from Blade himself as Mahershala Ali is finally opening up about the new direction the project has allegedly been taking. While promoting Netflix’s Leave the World Behind, Ali tells EW that the future is looking bright for Marvel Studios’ Blade.
“We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you,” the actor says. “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”
Marvel Studios recently brought in Logan and Blade Runner 2049 writer Michael Green to pen the script, and they’re looking to scale back the budget some. This back-to-basics but gritty approach seems to be working for all parties involved.
“I’m sincerely encouraged in terms of where things are at and who’s on board and who’s leading the way as far as the writing of the script and the directing and all that,” adds Ali. “So that’s the extent of what I can tell you.”
SEE ALSO: Blade: Revisiting the Marvel Action-Horror Classic
Yann Demange (White Boy Rick) will direct Blade, which stars Mahershala Ali, Delroy Lindo, Aaron Pierre, and Mia Goth. The film was set for release on September 6th, 2024, but is currently undated after Marvel chose to push back all of its slate except Deadpool 3.