One of the MCU’s Most Troubled Productions May Have a New Director

Since Marvel Studios announced that it would be rebooting Blade during its 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel, the film has been rife with problems. Intended to have been released by now, Blade has had to undergo massive script rewrites with at least five different writers taking their crack at the story, and two different directors having exited the project. While fans have started to wonder if this new iteration of the character would ever make more than an off-screen, voice-only appearance in the post-credit scene to Eternals, it appears the reboot may have a new director ready to tackle the project.

According to a report from World of Reel, after a series of interviews with different directors wishing to direct the film, the pitch that most impressed Marvel came from James Samuels. Samuels’ film debut was in the 2021 star-studded Netflix Western Feature The Harder They Fall, which featured a performance by recently fired Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors alongside previous Marvel actors Idris Elba and Zazie Beets, with LaKetih Stanfield and Regina King.

Should the rumors be true and Samuels be ready to tackle a new Blade, reports also indicate he will be doing so under more favorable circumstances than previously attached directors Bassim Tariq and Yann Demange. While the script has undergone major rewrites by writers Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green, it has been suggested that everyone involved with the project is finally satisfied with the current draft as written by Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow scribe, Eric Pearson. Even star Mahershala Ali, who was originally so dissatisfied with the script that he forced production to be pushed back by more than a year, is reportedly ready to begin production with the film a “major priority” for Marvel Studios chief, Kevin Feige.

Do Audiences Want a New Blade?

While the original announcement that Blade would be rebooted with Ali starring was met with major cheers in Hall H at SDCC, and on the internet as a whole, a lot has changed in the last five years. The biggest factor being the surprise return of the original star of the Blade trilogy, Wesley Snipes, to the role in this summer’s smash hit, Deadpool & Wolverine.

The overwhelmingly positive response to Snipes return, along with the film’s reference to his Blade being the “one and only” in a world full of variants – with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool making his usual fourth wall break to address the elephant in the room – lead many to wonder if a new Blade is even necessary. After all, if Hugh Jackman can return to the role of Wolverine after supposedly putting the character to bed in 2017’s Logan, fans are left to wonder why Snipes couldn’t return to the role and character that helped to launch comic book movies into the forefront of pop culture.

Indeed, Reynolds himself has been open with the press that he thinks Snipes deserves to be given a fourth film. Calling on his large following on X/Twitter, Reynolds tweeted “There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market. He’s Marvel Daddy. Please retweet for a Logan-like send off.” To date, the tweet has been retweeted 102k times.