Marvel’s upcoming Blade movie, starring Mahershala Ali, will no longer have Bassam Tariq as director.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news on Tuesday evening, it wasn’t immediately apparent what impact the director’s departure would have on the movie’s scheduled November 2023 release date. The beginning of shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, was reportedly planned for later this year.
A Marvel representative attributed Tariq’s departure to “continued shifts” in the schedule in a statement to THR. Tariq, who will continue to serve as the movie’s executive producer, expressed interest in the direction the next director would take the production. A new director had not yet been made public announcement at the time this article was written.
,In September of last year, Tariq credited the Wesley Snipes-led Blade trilogy with starting “this whole ball rolling” after the U.S. premiere of his and Riz Ahmed’s Mogul Mowgli. The actor Mahershala Ali, whose extensive list of accolades includes two Oscars, and the writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour were both praised for their apparent brilliance.