Blade: Aaron Pierre joins Mahershala Ali in the Marvel movie

Since the first announcement that Mahershala Ali would be playing Blade in Marvel’s upcoming reboot several years ago, we’ve been anxiously awaiting any news about the Day Walker’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cast of the Blade movie has continued to grow Deadline has reported that Aaron Pierre has signed on.

It’s not known who Aaron Pierre will be playing in the Blade movie, with Deadline saying that the role “was one of the more highly coveted parts in Hollywood.” Interesting. Aaron Pierre is best known for his role in Krypton, but has also impressed with key roles in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old and Barry Jenkins’ Underground Railroad series for Prime Video. He also signed on to replace John Boyega in Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge and is also set to voice Mufasa in The Lion King prequel/sequel directed by Barry Jenkins.

The Blade movie will be directed by Bassam Tariq from a script by Stacy Osei-Kuffour and it’s expected that production will kick off in late summer 2022. Mahershala Ali has said that he’s in the “very early stages” of stepping into Blade’s shoes and is “excited to get going and do more.” In addition to Mahershala Ali and Aaron Pierre, the Blade movie will also star Delroy Lindo in a role that’s also being kept under wraps. Stepping into the shoes of a character so memorably played by Wesley Snipes over the course of three movies is no small task, but Ali has said that he’s looking forward to “earning it,” adding, “There’s an anticipation for it, excitement for it that he owns. That Mr. Snipes owns. In filling his shoes, I’m just looking to earn my place in this, and I’m excited to get going and do the work.“