Just when you thought things were going swimmingly for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade reboot, which only recently settled on a release date and was gearing up to begin production in a matter of weeks, along comes the bombshell that director Bassam Tariq has dropped out of the director’s chair.
The project was first announced at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con when two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali appeared onstage as a surprise guest to announce the Daywalker was heading back to the big screen, but it’s been an arduous process since then.
A lengthy and exhaustive search saw Stacy Osei-Kuffour tasked to handle the screenplay, and even more time went by before Tariq was ultimately assigned directorial duties. Unfortunately, it’s a massive setback for Blade with the starting line so close, but a new slice of alleged inside information from Jeff Sneider hints that things haven’t been rosy for a while.
A 90-page screenplay with two action sequences is slight by the standards of the genre, never mind the world’s biggest and most popular franchise that thrives on giving audiences super-sized spectacle from start too finish. Ali’s rumored frustrations make sense when he’s been one of the driving forces behind Blade since conception, so it may not have been a particularly happy camp.
Of course, none of this has been confirmed or corroborated just yet, but expect the autopsy to continue as the hunt for a new director urgently begins. Whether or not Blade still makes that November 2023 bow at this stage remains entirely up for debate.