New Possible Details Emerge About Marvel Studios' 'Blade' Reboot Rewrites
The scoop comes as pre-production shuts down for the Writers Guild of America strike
The uphill skate continues for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s iteration of Blade. Marvel Studios is shutting down preproduction on its thriller starring Mahershala Ali as the vampire hunter, which was set to finally begin filming next month in Atlanta.
This is the second time the pause button has been hit on the film, as it was October when it last happened. Filming was supposed to begin in November when Bassam Tariq departed at the end of September as production schedules kept shifting. When that pause button was hit, another shift occurred: its release date. It moved from November 3, 2023 to September 6, 2024, displacing Deadpool 3 and a broader chain reaction of release date changes. Now, it is the first major film production impacted by the improper working conditions that Writers Guild of America members were put under before they began striking for better on May 2.
Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of True Detective, had just been brought on as a writer a few weeks before it was reported, but when the strike came down, the strike came down. Time had simply run out. The studio will restart the production once the strike is over. Late-night talk, Saturday Night Live, Billions, Stranger Things, Bunk’d, Loot, Evil, and The Talk have all been shuttered on the TV side, as has Community: The Movie.
Marvel Studios has been planning on having three movies shooting simultaneously, as well as two series. Captain America: New World Order and Agatha: Coven of Chaos are currently filming in Atlanta, and Wonder Man is filming in Los Angeles. Thunderbolts is still on track to start filming in Atlanta in June. Deadpool 3 is expected to film in London later this month. More impact could come the longer the studios don’t concede.
But what’s Blade going to look like when they do return to production? Well we have an idea of it, according to DanielRPK, is rumored. The film is going to be R-rated, making it the MCU’s second to get such rating. Delroy Lindo is reportedly playing Deacon Frost, He is an antagonist who in the comics infected and gave powers to Eric Brooks (Blade), turning him into the half-human/half-vampire hybrid through feasting on his mother while pregnant with Blade. Saul Williams has reportedly joined the film as Jamal Afari, who discovers, raises, and teaches Brooks when he’s younger before he becomes the vampire hunter he is as an adult. Meanwhile, Aaron Pierre is reportedly no longer attached. His character was intended to be the villain in the Beau DeMayo-penned script, which, as stated earlier is no longer the current version, with Pizolatto and Michael Starburry’s work heavily rewriting it. He’s been replaced by Mia Goth, who will be playing a version of Lilith that pulls from the several that exist in the comics. In addition, the rewrites have cast Milan Ray out of the role of Blade’s daughter.
Blade, regardless of whether it’s forced to shift release dates again if the strike continues for long enough, will be directed by Yann Demange. Support the writers.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Blade Updates/DanielRPK (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)