Another week, another complication in the production of Blade as the Marvel production has just lost yet another cast member. It was revealed during a feature by The Hollywood Reporter that Delroy Lindo, another of the cast members who was set to appear alongside Mahershala Ali in the title role, has abandoned ship. Lindo joins former co-star Aaron Pierre, director Yann Demange, previous director Bassam Tariq (yes, that’s two directors), writers Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective), Stavey Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen), Beau DeMayo (X-Men ’97), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us) and probably the hopes of all Marvel and Blade fans in departing the project in what is simply the latest in a string of catastrophic developments. Intriguingly, one factor behind the movie’s lack of progress appears to be that it doesn’t even know what story it wants to tell.

The report notes that Blade, under the direction of Demange, was set to begin production in May 2023 before the Writers’ Guild of America strike began, followed by the SAG-AFTRA strike. However, unlike other Marvel projects like Deadpool & Wolverine and Thunderbolts, which were shut down and restarted, Blade took a different approach by letting go of most of its actors, including Lindo and Pierre, and cycling through more writers. Marvel hired Michael Green in November, and following Demange‘s departure, Eric Pearson, a go-to Marvel writer known for his work on Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four, stepped in to take over the script in an act of desperate housekeeping.

‘Blade’ Was Originally Set in the 1920s

Perhaps what’s more fascinating is that THR has reported the original storylines of the movie, which seem wildly inconsistent. The Blade version aiming to shoot last year was set in the 1920s, featuring Mia Goth as a vampire villain named Lilith who sought the blood of Blade’s daughter. Despite letting most actors go, Goth remains attached to the project. Under director Tariq, Marvel built a massive train set that was never used and might be passed to another Disney production. The new take on Blade is now said to be set in the present day.

The project is said to hold special importance to Kevin Feige, who cut his teeth working alongside Wesley Snipes on the 1998 version of the film, so it’s clear that he wants it to work. The amount of money spent on the film to date appears substantial, but Marvel are pushing ahead with plans to write another script and see which directors it interests.

via Collider