Mogul Mowgli and Ghosts of Sugar Land director Bassam Tariq has announced that he is joining Marvel Studios to work on the upcoming Blade film.
"I didn't think [Blade] was going to happen, just to be very honest," Tariq told The Playlist Podcast. "I'm honoured and it's a privilege, but I'm here in service of Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who is the incredible writer that is writing the film. She's just a phenomenal presence and a juggernaut in her own right. And for Mahershala Ali - for me, - it's really just working in their service.
"[Marvel] takes big swings, you know? Character is very important to me. I don't think of genre, I think of character. It's not so boxed in as people imagine it to be [working with Marvel]. It's quite exciting. And I think the reality is there is no 'Blade' canon, you know? If you ever read the comics, they're always changing. Unfortunately, the [comic series] never lasted that long."
Wesley Snipes starred in Blade back in '98 and wrapped up the trilogy with the third outing in 2004. The character has been dormant in the film space ever since, but Marvel Studios announced that Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali would be starring in a reboot for the MCU.
Since then, details have been murky. It had a 2022 release date but that has likely been pushed back. However, it has been known for some time now that Stacy Osei-Kuffour would be writing the script. For context, they penned HBO's Watchmen series, another comicbook extravaganza.
As for its rating, it looks as though Blade will be aiming for PG-13 first and foremost: "We've not ever encountered a story, or a storyline, or a character's journey that a PG-13 or the tone or the ratings that we've been using up to this point has prevented us," executive producer Kevin Feige stated. "We've never been held back by it."