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It has been nearly half a decade since Marvel Studios announced that Mahershala Ali would be starring in the MCU’s iteration of Blade. Most movies could have been released and had a sequel on the books by now, but we’re still waiting to see the reboot of everyone’s favorite vampire hunter on the big screen again. You’d expect Marvel to be in a bit of a rush to get the movie done and move on at this point, but apparently they’re pretty content to take their time and get things just right.

The biggest sign of this uncharacteristically relaxed approach to getting Blade into cinemas is the fact that the studio isn’t rushing to find a new director now that Yann Demange left the project earlier in June. Instead, they’ve chosen to bring in Eric Pearson to rewrite the script, abandoning Demange’s plan for a period piece set in the 1920s for a modern take on the character. Pearson has previously worked with Marvel to polish the scripts for Thor: Ragnarok and the upcoming Fantastic Four film.

Reports have said that only when they have a new script in hand is Marvel Studios expected to start shopping around for a new director for Blade. Yann Demange is the second director to exit the project just as it was on the cusp of filming, which is probably a large source of frustration for Mahershala Ali, who has been attached to star since 2019. This latest setback isn’t likely to help the relationship between the Green Book star and the studio considering that he handpicked Demange to helm the project.

The decision to exercise a bit of patience is probably a good one for Marvel Studios. We don’t know how much they’ve already invested in Blade so far – though we know they built a whole train set that now won’t get used in the picture – but they seem determined to make sure they get it right rather than panic and rush something out that doesn’t meet expectations.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters