Mia Goth is providing an update on the status of Marvel‘s long-delayed and beleaguered take on Blade.
In an interview with Josh Horowitz for his Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Frankenstein star said she is completely in the dark on what’s happening with the project, saying she began preliminary production processes after being cast, but that the film “unraveled from there.”
“I don’t know what’s going on with that,” she said. “I think that they want to make it, and it’s such an important film for them that they’re taking their time with it. I really don’t have any information. I don’t know why it’s taken the time that it has, but we will see.”
She continued, “The furthest that it got with me … they flew [me] to Atlanta, and we did a chemistry test between [star] Mahershala [Ali] and I, and we did a costume fitting and a wig fitting, and I was very excited in the direction it was going. It was very cool. And Mahershala had such an interesting take on it, and he was great. And then it just unraveled from there, unfortunately.”
Goth became attached to the project in 2023, and it had been reported that the new iteration would be a period piece, as the lost project’s costume pieces designed by Ruth Carter were recycled for Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror phenomenon set in the 1930s. The Odyssey actress was rumored to make her MCU debut as Lilith in Blade, known in the comics as a key supernatural villain.
This summer, boss Kevin Feige noted the project remains in development with Ali still attached to star as the Daywalker, first originated on screen in the ’90s-to-early-aughts trilogy starring Wesley Snipes (who made a cameo in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine). There were four versions of the film in development, including two period pieces, though Feige said the creative team has “landed on modern day and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
Late last year, Marvel unsurprisingly pulled Blade from its 2025 release calendar. Originally announced back in 2019, the movie was naturally delayed by the pandemic and dual industry strikes. Since then, it’s also seen a number of exits, including from initially tapped directors Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) and Yann Demange (Lovecraft Country). On pausing Blade after the exit of the two filmmakers, Feige said, “We didn’t want to put a leather outfit on [Ali] and have him start killing vampires.”
He continued, “You can start and have a good script and make it a great script through production, but we didn’t feel confident we could do that on Blade. We didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us.”
Recently, Sinners actor Delroy Lindo, who was attached to the new Blade back in 2021, also commented that the iteration “just went off the rails.” Meanwhile, Ali has dodged questions about the project. Last year, Goth told Deadline that, with regard to the Blade delays, those behind the movie “really care, they do. They want to make a great movie. That’s the sense that I get from them and that feels good.”
Also in 2024, it was reported Eric Pearson (Agent Carter, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow) would be penning the script.