The future’s been a bit murky for everyone’s favorite half-vampire vampire hunter since Blade lost its director back in September. But those of us looking forward to seeing Mahershala Ali in a dramatic leather coat (please, he has to have the coat) can rejoice, as the film has a new director: Variety reports that Lovecraft Country‘s Yann Demange is now at the helm, and what’s more, the film has a new writer, too.
Demange, who directed the pilot episode of Lovecraft Country, is somewhat in demand these days: he’s also attached to direct HBO’s series adaptation of David Cronenberg’s Scanners.
When former director Bassam Tariq left the project, it was unclear who was still working on the screenplay. Last year, Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour was announced as the writer; in September, The Hollywood Reporter said Beau DeMayo (Moon Knight, The Witcher) had the job. But now, according to Variety, Demange “will direct from a brand new script by Emmy nominee Michael Starrbury, which is said to be ‘darker than most MCU movies.’”
Starrbury’s Emmy nomination was for an episode of Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us; he was also a writer on DuVernay’s Colin in Black and White.
We haven’t seen Blade onscreen since Wesley Snipes last played him, in 2004’s Blade: Trinity, but we have heard the new version of the character: An offscreen Ali speaks to Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman at the end of Eternals. But given that it’s been three long years since Ali was announced as the new Blade, a bit of impatience about seeing him is understandable. It’ll just be a while longer, alas. With the former director’s departure, the movie’s release date was pushed back to Sept. 6, 2024, and Variety notes that production should resume next year.
