Mahershala Ali’s Blade Exit Seemingly Confirmed After MCU Reboot Delays

After seven years of waiting, Mahershala Ali looks to be done with Blade.

In a recent interview with GQ for his new action-thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Ali was asked for a new update on his long-gestating Blade reboot. The Oscar winner seemingly confirmed his exit from the role after the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie’s numerous delays, candidly expressing that he “didn’t feel great about the fact that things finished the way that they did,” as he prefers to “see things through.” He further shared that if there is progress being made on the film, it’s “not with me,” and said part of it came down to choosing between Blade and Your Mother, whose director Bassam Tariq was once attached to the MCU project:

Mahershala Ali: No offense to them. I’ve been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I’ve learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not. For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother feels very much in alignment with the type of work I want to be known for. I don’t really want to be known for remakes. I’d love to do original work that resonates with people and impacts them in unique ways.

Laughing as he said he’s “good” on no longer being part of the Blade reboot, Ali notably stated that Marvel “had me under contract,” indicating that his contract has since expired with the studio, and reiterating that “if they wanted to the movie, we would’ve done the movie.” The Oscar winner further acknowledged he could’ve done both the MCU film and his new action-thriller, but that the latter’s existence is “because that project fell apart and Bassam had the time, space, energy and focus to go and write this.”

Despite his frustrations, one other blessing in disguise that came from going from Blade to Your Mother was that Ali was “able to use those skills that I had been working on for over a year training” on the MCU reboot for his new action-thriller:

Mahershala Ali: In that way, I feel creatively redeemed on some level, just in my own journey between me, myself, and I. But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn’t want to do it, so they should answer that question.

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