Marvel’s Blade Now Being Re-Written By True Detective Creator Nic Pizzolatto
Marvel's upcoming Blade film will now be written by Nic Pizzolatto.
Marvel Studio’s Blade reboot has enlisted the services of Nic Pizzolatto, who will be joining the project as a screenwriter. The movie reunites the filmmaker with star Mahershala Ali as the pair previously worked together on the third season of the HBO anthology series True Detective. Production on the Marvel Studios project is set to begin later this month.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pizzolatto is working on a draft of the Blade script from writer Michael Starrbury. Yann Demange (of Lovecraft Country fame) is directing after Bassam Tariq exited the project last year. Along with Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali, the cast also features Aaron Pierre, Delroy Lindo, and Mia Goth.
Blade made his Marvel Comics debut in The Tomb of Dracula #10 in 1973. Created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, the character is a vampire hunting half-mortal, half-immortal who seeks to avenge his mother’s death. Wesley Snipes previously portrayed the character in a movie trilogy released in 1998, 2002, and 2004.
Plans for the upcoming Blade reboot were revealed at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, officially unveiled the news to an excited crowd, saying that the film would be added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also noted that Ali, former star of Marvel’s Luke Cage, would play the lead role.
The famous vampire hunter made his unofficial Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the second post-credits scene of 2021’s Eternals. Mahershala Ali’s voice can be heard speaking to Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman. But the scene cuts away before his face is revealed. However, Hot Mic Podcast host Jeff Sneider recently announced that Harington’s character, the Black Knight, had been cut from the Blade reboot.
Although plot details remain scarce, the new Blade movie is said to follow the source material. The story follows Eric Cross Brooks – a half-mortal/half-immortal who wants to rid the world of vampires after his mother was murdered by the monsters when he was born. The movie is set for release by Marvel on September 6, 2024.
Mahershala Ali previously shared his excitement about the film in an interview with Variety, saying he only became familiar with the character after watching the Wesley Snipes movies. “I discovered [Blade] like everyone else in the late ’90s with Wesley Snipes,” he told the publication. “And I don’t think I even noticed how I was just accustomed to there not being black superheroes.”
The new version of Blade is in good hands with Nic Pizzolatto. The 47-year-old began his career as a short story writer before moving on to screenwriting. His crime series, True Detective, received wide praise for its dark, mysterious tone and strong characters. The first season featured Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the lead roles.
Along with Blade, Nic Pizzolatto is also working on a reboot of The Magnificent Seven. The series is created in “the tradition of the great epics from the golden age of Westerns.” Much like the movies of the same name, the story follows an outlaw and his cohorts who are tasked with defending a settlement of immigrants.
