Blade: Mahershala Ali “increasingly frustrated” by lengthy development

It’s been five years since it was first announced that Mahershala Ali would star in Blade, but with a revolving door of writers and directors, it seems that the project can’t catch a break. To quote the man himself, “Some motherf***ers are always trying to ice skate uphill.“

A new report from THR mentions that Blade star Mahershala Ali is growing “increasingly frustrated” with the lengthy development process, which is entirely understandable. Nearly every single project that was announced alongside Blade at Comic-Con 2019, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, has already come and gone.

Blade was originally to be directed by Bassam Tariq, but Marvel reportedly grew concerned that he wasn’t the best fit for the project. The studio gave Ali a list of potential replacements, but the actor conducted his own search and handpicked Yann Demange, who recently exited the project. Blade was just weeks away from starting production last year when it was hit by the writers strike and then the actors strike. Everything shut down, but even when the strikes concluded, Blade was left dormant. Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre, who were reportedly attached to the project, departed, and new writers were brought in to tackle the script.

It’s hard to say how many millions of dollars have been spent on Blade so far, with THR’s report even stating that a “massive train set” was built for one version of the production when Tariq was still at the helm. The scripts have shifted time periods several times as well, with the version that almost started shooting last year said to have been set in the 1920s. The current script, which is being penned by Eric Pearson, is reportedly set in the modern day.

I sincerely hope that Marvel is able to pull this off at the end of the day, but it’s hard to see the studio struggle so much to get this made. Original Blade star Wesley Snipes even commented on the turmoil, writing, “Blade, lordylordylordy…folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don’t they?“