The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade reboot was first announced in the summer of 2019 when Mahershala Ali was the surprise guest at the end of the franchise’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, but it would be fair to say that development has hardly been rapid since the initial announcement.
It took the two-time Academy Award winner and producer Kevin Feige six months to even settle on Stacy Ossei-Kuffour as the screenwriter, while director Bassam Tariq was only confirmed to be helming the vampiric comic book blockbuster at the beginning of last month.
However, despite some confusion on social media, Blade is expected to begin shooting next summer to arrive in theaters somewhere around late 2023/early 2024. That means more casting news won’t be too far away, and a report from That Hashtag Show offers that a fan favorite character could have a major part to play.
Marvel are said to be casting for a pre-teen African-American girl described as ‘confident, self-determined and fiery’, with a tough exterior but vulnerable personality. On the surface, that sounds a lot like Lilith Drake, Dracula’s daughter and a key part of the Blade mythos.
To add further weight to the claims, the code name for the part is ‘Ruby’. In the comics, Lilith’s signature costume is largely ruby red, and while that’s hardly concrete, it’s entirely feasible that we could see her join Ali in the MCU’s Blade.