Earlier this week, we learned that Blade director Bassam Tariq had decided to exit the highly anticipated Marvel Studios reboot. The movie was first announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, though a combination of the pandemic and the movie having no writer and director at the time means the wait for the Daywalker's return has been longer than expected.
While the filmmaker released a statement saying "we were able to put together a killer cast and crew," it was later reported that the script is only 90 pages with a mere two action scenes.
Star Mahershala Ali is said to have grown frustrated with the process, while it was reiterated that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is simply spread too thin. That's hardly a surprise with The Multiverse Saga playing out in pretty much half the time of The Infinity Saga, a result of the massive increase in MCU TV shows heading to Disney+.
Whether this is accurate or not, it sounds like Stacy Osei-Kuffour's (Watchmen) script needs some work. Now, The Direct is reporting that Beau DeMayo is currently hard at work overhauling Blade for Marvel Studios.
He was one of the writers who worked on Moon Knight and was later tapped to serve as Head Writer on the upcoming X-Men: The Animated Series sequel X-Men '97. The site notes that he's in the process of "[rebuilding] Blade's story from the ground up following Osei-Kuffour's work."
It's certainly an interesting time for Marvel Studios and there's no denying that there's been a slight dip in quality during Phase 4. All these additional stories being told on the small screen appear to be the main issue, and a lack of connectivity during this phase of movies and TV shows has frustrated many fans.
Blade is set to be released on November 3, 2023, though that is expected to change now production will no longer begin later this year.