The 'Blade' Reboot Gets Its New Director

Yann Demange, director of White Boy Rick along with episodes of Top Boy and Lovecraft Country, is the new director of Blade.

Marvel Studios has nabbed French-Algerian filmmaker Yann Demange as the new director of Blade. Demange, who was raised in London, previously directed 2018 crime film White Boy Rick along with the pilot episode of Lovecraft Country and four episodes of crime drama series Top Boy.

Along with Demange is new Blade scriptwriter Michael Starrbury, who scored an Emmy nomination for writing an episode of Ava DuVenay's 2019 Netflix miniseries When They See Us. This comes after Beau Demayo (Moon Knight) was added to retool the script. In September, former Blade director Bassam Tariq dropped from the project in lieu of creative difference prior to the film's intended pre-production in November. With adjustments to the script, Marvel now plans for Blade to go into production in Atlanta in 2023 for a theatrical release date of September 6, 2024.

“It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel. We were able to put together a killer cast and crew,” Tariq said in a statement at the time. “Eager to see where the next director takes the film.”

After losing Tariq, it was previously rumored that Blade star Mahershala Ali was "frustrated with the process," along with the Marvel film having two "lackluster" action sequences. Blade was first announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con by Marvel president Kevin Feige, with Ali putting on a baseball cap with the film’s logo at the end of the Marvel Panel. Also in the cast are English actors Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre.