If you were wondering why Marvel’s Blade reboot was absent from the studio’s recent sizzle reel, we may have the answer for you as THR is reporting that production on the Mahershali Ali-led film has been pushed back from later this year to next summer.
Marvel tapped writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen) to work on the screenplay – reportedly titled Blade, the Vampire Slayer – back in February, and the studio has decided to delay production from September of this year to July 2022 to allow more time to perfect the script.
The studio is also currently searching for a director for the project, and is said to have met with a number of directors who are also believed to be in contention for Warner Bros. and DC Films’ Superman reboot from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams.
Among the names mentioned as possibilities for the director’s chair are Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II), J.D. Dillard (Sweetheart), Regina King (One Night in Miami) and Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), along with Barry Jenkins, who directed Mahershala Ali to his first Oscar in Moonlight.