Mahershala Ali Still Wants to Film ‘Blade’: ‘Call Marvel, Let Them Know I’m Ready’

It’s been nearly six years since Mahershala Ali stepped out onstage during Marvel Studios‘ Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, where producer Kevin Feige announced that the two-time Oscar-winning actor would be playing the vampire slayer Blade, rebooting the character first originated on-screen by Wesley Snipes and adding him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since then, the project has dropped numerous directors, lost cast members and faced several delays.

But even through all that turbulent development, Ali tells Variety he’s keen to start filming on “Blade.”

“Call Marvel,” Ali said at the New York premiere of his new film “Jurassic World Rebirth.” The actor kept his answer brief when asked when “Blade” production could start. “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.”

Marvel Studios first announced Blade in 2019, alongside other projects like Disney Plus series “WandaVision,” “Loki” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” as well as movies like “Eternals,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” But while all those projects have been produced and released, Marvel Studios is still trying to ice-skate uphill with “Blade.”

Last October, Disney removed “Blade” from its release calendar altogether, taking it off a Nov. 7, 2025 release date. That came after numerous prior delays; the film’s first official release date was Nov. 3, 2023.

The project first saw filmmaker Bassam Tariq sign on to direct the movie, before he exited in September 2022, roughly two months before a planned production start. Since then, director Yann Demanger has also joined and exited. Actors Aaron Pierre and Delroy Lindo were reportedly attached to star alongside Ali, but both have since revealed that they have left the project.

“It was really exciting conceptually, but it was also exciting in terms of the character that was going to form. And then, for whatever reason, it just went off the rails,” Lindo told Entertainment Weekly about the project back in April.

Back in November, Feige said that Marvel Studios was “still committed” to “Blade,” speaking at Disney’s D23 Brazil event: “We love the character. We love Mahershala’s take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. You’re all up to date on what’s happening.”

Ali’s last update on the project was in December 2023, when he said, “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. We’ll be back at it relatively soon.”