The MCU fandom quickly became concerned when Blade landed itself in hot water after swiftly losing its former director Bassam Tariq mere weeks before production was set to begin, with the film rapidly looking like it was going to enter development hell.
Thankfully, just over a month after this all went down, the film appears to have bounced back onto its feet and found a new captain to steer the ship in the director of Lovecraft Country‘s first episode, Yann Demange.
Demange turned out to be a fairly unexpected name to wield the megaphone, with the ever-churning rumor mill wildly speculating in recent weeks that Elegance Bratton would be filling the director’s chair. Bratton even offered a hypothetical take on how he would approach the movie.
Another contender was Werewolf by Night director Michael Giacchino, who seemed like a shoo-in considering his instrumental role in bringing one of the MCU’s first horror projects to life. Alas, he ruled himself out of contention earlier this month.
The Blade production setback wasn’t a particularly minor one. While Mahershala Ali is still set to tackle the role of the titular vampire hunter, a whole new script will need to be penned for the fresh take on the ever-popular Marvel anti-hero.
That responsibility has been handed over to Michael Starrbury, an Emmy nominee for writing an episode of When They See Us, per the Hollywood Reporter.
The MCU’s take on Blade was initially set for a Nov. 2023 release, but due to delays following Bassam Tariq’s departure, it has now tentatively been slated for Sep. 2024.
