Blade reboot passed through the hands of Cary Joji Fukunaga, might be directed by Chad Stahelski

Cary Joji Fukunaga was reportedly attached to the Blade reboot briefly, but moved on - so now Chad Stahelski might be hired to direct The post Blade reboot passed through the hands of Cary Joji Fukunaga, might be directed by Chad Stahelski appeared first on JoBlo.

Mar 27, 2025 - 16:07

Blade reboot passed through the hands of Cary Joji Fukunaga, might be directed by Chad Stahelski

The fact that there was going to be a Blade reboot as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring Mashershala Ali in the title role, came as a huge surprise when the announcement was made at the San Diego Comic-Con back in July of 2019… but we’re coming up on the six year anniversary of that announcement, and we still haven’t seen a new Blade movie. The closest we’ve gotten is Ali making a vocal cameo as the character at the end of Eternals back in 2021. Now, industry scooper Jeff Sneider of The InSneider has given us a bit of an update on the project, which we haven’t heard much about in the last year. During its time in development hell, Blade has gained and lost two directors: Bassam Tariq was the first and Yann Demange the second. Sneider reveals that the project has also passed through the hands of a director who was never officially announced, Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die), and now might end up with John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski at the helm.

Last year, heard a rumor that Mahershala Ali is getting “increasingly frustrated” with the long development process on this one. Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre have been cast alongside Ali as the years have gone by, but are no longer involved, as their characters have apparently been written out. Co-star Mia Goth, who is rumored to be playing the villainous Lilith, is still attached – and she has said that she’s fine with the delays, because it shows that Marvel really cares about the project.

Writers who have worked on the script include Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us), True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto (who worked with Ali on season 3 of that show), Beau DeMayo (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf), Michael Green (Logan), and Eric Pearson, who has worked on Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

John Wick‘s uncredited co-director David Leitch, who has gone on to make films like Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw, said he would “love to” direct Blade. Chad Stahelski, who directed all of the John Wick movies and was also second unit director on Captain America: Civil War, said Blade was the one Marvel property that he would be really interested in directing. But instead of those experienced action directors, Marvel turned to Bassam Tariq, a documentarian who made his narrative feature debut with the 2020 drama Mogul Mowgli. Tariq was hired in July of 2021, but stepped away from the project in September of 2022, citing scheduling issues. Two months later, director Yann Demange (White Boy Rick) signed on to take the helm of the film… and for a while, it looked like he was going to get it into production. Then, in June of 2024, it was revealed that Demange had made an amicable departure from the project.

In his latest newsletter, Sneider writes that, although word of his involvement never made it into the trades, Cary Joji Fukunaga looked set to direct Blade after Demange dropped out – but then Fukunaga decided to make an indie thriller called Blood on Snow (starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) instead. Now, as World of Reel recently reported, it looks like Blade might end up being directed by Chad Stahelski after all, now that Green and Pearson have supposedly finalized the script.

During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast a while back, Stahelski said, “Of all the things out there (in the comic book world), I would take a swing at Blade in a second. That’s one that gets under my skin; I’m like, ‘I would take a swing at that.’“

Would you like to see Chad Stahelski bring the new Blade to the screen? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The post Blade reboot passed through the hands of Cary Joji Fukunaga, might be directed by Chad Stahelski appeared first on JoBlo.