Blade, a reboot by Marvel, has been a hot topic for quite some time now… and for all the bad reasons. Despite great anticipation and several fans waiting for the project, the production has encountered some issues which have many people asking themselves whether the project will life to see the light of a day.
The latest loss is the exit of Delroy Lindo who was seen to be next to Mahershala Ali in the leading role. Most recently, Lindo left the project, which builds upon the official departure of Aaron Pierre in the previous year, along with two directors, Yann Demange and Bassam Tariq, and several writers such as Nic Pizzolatto and Stacy Osei-Kuffour. All these changes have fans of the film concerned about its future as well as the storyline narrative that comes with it.
Originally scheduled to go into production in May 2023, the filming has now been hampered by the Writers Guild of America strike as well as the SAG-AFTRA strike. Unlike other marvel projects where they stopped and started shooting, ‘Blade’ decided to replace almost all the cast except for Mia Goth who was to play the role of the villain, Lilith. One such decision proves the drama of the production and the fact that the storyline has numerous twists and turns.
Curiously enough the film was intended to be based in 1920s, and the plot of the movie was somehow original: Lilith wanted blood of Blade’s daughter. However, this direction has since been dropped and the new version of ‘Blade’ is contemporary. This seemingly never-ending cycle has doubtless had its impact on the production of the film.
Feige, who has a personal relationship with the original 1998 with Wesley Snipes, requires this project to thrive. Lives are at stake, much less, money is at stake and large sums of money have already been invested in production. Marvel is at it again, recruiting new writers, including Michael Green and Eric Pearson to help rejuvenated the script.
While the exact release date remains uncertain, one thing is clear: Marvel is committed to bringing ‘Blade’ back to the big screen. Fans can only hope that this tumultuous journey leads to a film that does justice to the iconic vampire hunter.
