Fans of the original Blade comics and the Wesley Snipes trilogy can rest easy, as we bring you the glorious news that Marvel’s upcoming reboot will be rated R!
When asked if Blade will continue Marvel’s trend of keeping things somewhat family friendly, director Yann Demange had the following to say about the upcoming reboot:
“I come out of this wanting to be more open, more vulnerable and bring a more personal aspect to my work. But for Blade, we are going to have fun because [star Mahershala Ali] is such a deep actor. I’m excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen.”
So, it seems as though despite being a Marvel picture, Blade will not be coasting anything when it comes to the spilling of blood… which is essential for a vampire tale, no?
So far, the Blade reboot hasn’t had the best of luck during its protracted pre-production period. Initially the project was set to shoot in May of 2023 in Georgia. However, an emergency script rewrite was ordered at the behest of the cast, which landed the project in shutdown as the changes could not be completed before the Writer’s Guild of America strike.
Further complicating matters, the SAG-AFTRA strike soon followed, meaning the dormant project lost their main stars Mahershala Ali and Mia Goth.
Now with both strikes seemingly at an end, perhaps we’ll finally see some life in this reboot after it teetered dangerously close to development hell. We’ll keep an eye out for any further updates.
