After rough times for the MCU in recent years, things have been looking up for Kevin Feige and co lately. Deadpool & Wolverine is just weeks away. Its director, Shawn Levy, is circling Avengers 5. The studio has a refreshed Disney+ release slate, and The Fantastic Four is well on its way. But despite all of that, one project in particular, Blade, just can't seem to catch a break. Having already lost Bassam Tariq as director back in 2022, per The Wrap's reporting, the long-gestating vampire movie's replacement director Yann Demange has walked away from the film too.
According to the report on Demange's departure, the French-Algerian '71 filmmaker actually left Blade some time ago, with his exit being entirely amicable. And now, as the movie searches for another director ahead of its rapidly approaching (and increasingly unlikely) November 2025 release, Fantastic Four scribe and Marvel veteran Eric Pearson has been brought aboard to rework the script. He's the latest in a long line of writers who have, at one time or another, tried to help get Marvel Studios' Blade off the ground. Others have included Stacy Osei-Kuffour, X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green.
It's not quite all doom and gloom though for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most troubled production to date. For now at least, Mahershala Ali, who was announced to be playing the iconic Daywalker all the way back in 2019 and is currently in talks to lead the next Jurassic World movie, remains attached to star as the half-human vampire slayer. And, according to insiders, Feige and co are more fussed about getting the film right than getting it released, especially as they move towards a more manageable 'two films per year' moviemaking model. So there's hope yet that the film may still see the light of day... preferably without, y'know, entirely turning to dust.