Mahershala Ali, who was announced as Marvel Studios' Blade in 2019, has revealed in a recent interview that he will not be participating in the vampire-hunting film. "For whatever reason, that project is not for me," Ali told GQ, indicating that the film's lack of progress stems from decisions made by Marvel Studios. "If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on."
Ali elaborated on his departure, stating that if the movie were to proceed, it would have already done so. He indicated that his involvement was contingent on Marvel's commitment, and that his own creative journey has led him to a point where he is ready to move past the Blade project. "When I look at this and Blade, I couldn’t have done both, and the reason this even exists is because that project fell apart and Bassam had the time, space, energy, and focus to go and write this and then re-approach me," Ali explained, referencing his new film. "And I was able to use those skills that I had been working on for over a year training for Blade. In that way, I feel creatively redeemed on some level, just in my own journey between me, myself, and I. But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions."
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had previously expressed his own disappointment regarding the film's stalled development. In a July interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Feige admitted he felt like "a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala."
The Blade film has faced numerous production challenges since its initial announcement. Bassam Tariq departed as director in 2022, followed by Yann Demange in 2024. Reports from Variety also indicated significant script issues, with the screenplay undergoing multiple rewrites, at one point relegating Ali's character to a less prominent role.
Despite Ali's exit, a Blade video game is reportedly in development by Arkane Studios. However, Arkane's future with parent company Xbox is uncertain, with the latter reportedly prioritizing developer layoffs over game development.
Ali's latest project, an action drama titled Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother made in collaboration with Blade's first director Bassam Tariq, is set to release in select theaters on September 25th. The film features Ali wielding a sword, a visual that seems to signal his move forward from the long-delayed Marvel project.