Mahershala Ali criticizes Marvel for mishandling the Blade reboot and shares that he has moved on from the project.

      As Spider-Man achieves historic success at the global box office, Mahershala Ali expresses his disappointment that his long-awaited Blade film never materialized.

      In a detailed interview with GQ to promote his upcoming action drama Your Mother Your Mother, the Oscar-winning actor candidly reflected on his casting as the Daywalker, which was announced amid much excitement during a surprise Comic-Con appearance in 2019. However, the project encountered several directors, numerous rewrites, and production setbacks, ultimately being shelved earlier this year.

      In Your Mother Your Mother, Ali collaborates with Bassam Tariq, who was initially slated to direct Blade. He shared with GQ, “When I consider this in relation to Blade, I couldn't have taken on both projects. The reason this opportunity arose is because Blade fell through, allowing Bassam the time, space, energy, and focus to write this instead and then approach me again.” Ali continued, “I was able to apply the skills I had honed during over a year of training for Blade. In that sense, I feel creatively redeemed on some level, just in my own journey of self-reflection.”

      The Moonlight and True Detective star's perspective on the Blade situation was somewhat less optimistic as he remarked, “When I evaluate my options, it was either this or that, and I’ll choose this. No offense to them. I’ve been in this profession for nearly 30 years now, and one lesson I've learned is that what's meant for you will come to you, and what isn't, won’t. For whatever reason, that project isn’t meant for me. If they had truly wanted to pursue it, we would have moved forward. So I have to let it go, and I have moved on. Again, I was under contract, they have billions at their disposal; if they wanted to make the movie, we would have done it. So the movie isn’t happening.”

      With casting announcements like Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider and David Jonsson taking on the iconic Black Panther role, this situation is all the more disheartening for fans who were eager to see Mahershala Ali portray Marvel’s half-human, half-vampire antihero. It seems we will have to settle for his voice cameo in The Eternals’ post-credits scene—and perhaps even a cameo from Wesley Snipes following his return as Blade in Deadpool and Wolverine?

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