Mahershala Ali Offers A Hopeful Update On ‘Blade’ Following Reports That He Almost Quit The Marvel Film

The Blade reboot almost seems as cursed as the titular hero. After Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali was attached to the film that will bring the vampire hunter into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Blade reboot was hit with a series of delays and release date reshuffles while already being faced with a monumental task of living up to the Wesley Snipes films.

However, Ali has since issued a surprising update on his full-fledged MCU debut. (He briefly voiced the character in an end-credits scene for The Eternals.)

“We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you,” Ali told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”

Ali’s update arrives on the heels of an eyebrow-raising report from Variety last month that claimed the actor almost quit the movie after Marvel went through five writers and two directors while trying to nail down a story for Blade:

One person familiar with the script permutations says the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons. Blade was relegated to the fourth lead, a bizarre idea considering that the studio had two-time Oscar winner Ali on board.

Amid reports that Ali was ready to exit over script issues, Feige went back to the drawing board and hired Michael Green, the Oscar-nominated writer of “Logan,” to start anew. Speculation around town is that the studio is looking to make the film, now slated for 2025, on a budget of less than $100 million — a deviation from Marvel’s big-spending strategy.

Following the Variety report, Blade saw its release date pushed back again as Marvel adjusted its schedule due to delays from the writers and actors strike. As of this writing, the Blade reboot hits theaters on November 7, 2025.