Marvel’s “Blade” loses director Yann Demange in latest setback

The vampire superhero film was previously upended by last year’s strikes and the departure of director Bassam Tariq.

Marvel’s Blade has lost another director.

Entertainment Weekly can confirm that filmmaker Yann Demange has exited the vampire superhero project. The Wrap first reported the news.

Demange’s exit marks the latest behind-the-scenes shuffle that Blade has experienced since it was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. Marvel first set the Mahershala Ali–starring film to release on Nov. 3, 2023, with Mogul Mowgli filmmaker Bassam Tariq in the director’s chair. Tariq exited directing duties in September 2022, stating on Instagram that he’s “eager to support and see how the next director builds on the foundation” that he helped set and that he’ll remain on the project as an executive producer. Marvel told Entertainment Weekly that the director’s departure was "due to continued shifts in our production schedule” at the time.

Demange, who helmed White Boy Rick and episodes of Lovecraft Country, was announced as the new director in November 2022. At that point, the film had already been delayed to a Sept. 6, 2024, release date. The film was then delayed again due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023, landing on Feb. 14, 2025 — and it then moved one final time to Nov. 7, 2025, which is its current projected release date.

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The project has also seen a revolving door of writers tackle the script. Watchmen alum Stacy Osei-Kuffour was first hired to write the film in February 2021. By the time the film had lost its first director in September 2022, THR reported that it had already gone through several rounds of rewrites, and that Beau DeMayo (who recently departed Marvel’s X-Men ‘97) would handle a new draft of the movie.

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When They See Us writer Michael Starburry was then hired to write another draft of Blade when Demange came aboard in November 2022. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, with whom Ali had collaborated on the third season of the HBO series, was announced as a new scribe on the project in April 2023, reportedly rewriting the movie using elements from Starburry’s version. Then, in November 2023, Variety reported that Logan writer Michael Green had been tapped to rewrite the screenplay after Ali “was ready to exit over script issues.”

In December 2023, Ali told EW, “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”

Now, Eric Pearson will write the latest version of the movie. Pearson penned Marvel projects Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow, and is also attached to write the forthcoming Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four.

Additionally, Underground Railroad star Aaron Pierre exited the film, stating, “As the project evolved, I’m no longer part of that."

Blade is set to debut in theaters on Nov. 7, 2025.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.