It really doesn't look like Blade is ever going to see the light of day.
Though the movie was removed from Marvel Studios' slate late last year, we had heard that the film had simply been delayed and would eventually move forward. Unfortunately, this no longer seems to be the case.
Despite recent reports that the MCU reboot was still on track to commence production in the UK at some point later this year, insider Daniel Richtman claims to have confirmed that Blade has now been put "on indefinite hold."
Backing up this claim is recording artist/DJ Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, who has taken to X to reveal that he had signed on to write the music for the project before things fell through - and he does not sound optimistic about the film getting back on track.
Last we heard, the latest draft by Eric Pearson - who is the sixth writer to have been assigned to the project after Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo and Nic Pizzolatto - had "finally satisfied everyone involved," but clearly this isn't the case.
Apparently, the real reason Blade was pushed back again is because Marvel is prioritizing Multiversal stories in the build-up to Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. So, it may not be a case of the studio struggling to "get Blade right," and simply bad timing for Ali's Daywalker to make his MCU debut.
We have also heard that the positive response to Wesley Snipes' appearance in Deadpool and Wolverine had led to the studio planning to make the reboot a Multiverse story that could feature both takes on the Daywalker.
This may all be moot now, anyway, but hopefully Marvel will come back around to the movie after Secret Wars.
Here's what Sinners star Delroy Lindo had to say about the role he would have played before parting ways with the film during a recent interview with EW.
"When Marvel came to me, they seemed to be really interested in my input. And in the various conversations I had with producers, the writer, the director at the time, it was all leading into being very inclusive."
"It was really exciting conceptually, but it was also exciting in terms of the character that was going to form," the actor went on. "And then, for whatever reason, it just went off the rails."
"There was a Marcus Garvey-esque component to who this man was shaping up to be. I'm not saying that it would've been an out-and-out Garvey-ite. Not that, but just in terms of how this man's philosophy, his ethos, and what was driving him. He was a character who had, very similar to Sinners, created a community, a Black community. He was a character who was the head of this community."
Yann Demange (who stepped in to replace Bassam Tariq) previously confirmed that the movie - or at least, the version he was attached to - was going to be rated R.
"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," said the filmmaker. "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."
How would you feel if the MCU Blade reboot never happened? Drop us a comment down below.