Marvel‘s Blade movie has reportedly cast Mia Goth as its villain – and the Pearl and Infinity Pool actor has been on board since last year.
Goth’s involvement was revealed as part of an extensive article, published by The Hollywood Reporter (THR) on June 20, which laid bare the troubled Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) development. As part of the report, THR all but confirmed Goth was set to star opposite Mahershala Ali (he’ll play the titular antihero) as Lilith, a vampiric villain who wanted the blood of Blade’s daughter.
Marvel hasn’t officially confirmed Goth is part of Blade‘s cast, but THR has previous form for revealing cast announcements before film and TV studios do. Online rumors swirled about Goth’s involvement in late 2023, too, so I believe there’s more than a shred of credibility to THR’s claim.
For what it’s worth, THR also suggests that Goth is still attached to the project despite its protracted development. Given how long Blade has been trapped in development hell for, though, it’s unclear if Goth will stick around. I’ve reached out to Marvel and Disney for comment on Goth’s casting, and I’ll report back if I receive a response.
The hellish development timeline of Marvel’s Blade movie
THR’s article was uploaded to the internet three days after I penned a round-up of the Marvel Phase 5 movie’s latest issues. Among other problems, I revealed that Blade had lost its second director and that the studio had hired its sixth writer to punch up its script.
The latest update on Blade‘s perpetual difficulties, though, show just how many problems its cast and crew have had to deal with since it was first announced in July 2019.
For one, Yann DeMange – the film’s most recent director – is said to have parted ways with Marvel after growing frustrated over its prolonged development process. DeMange had assumed filmmaking duties after previous incumbent Bassam Tariq walked away from Blade – THR claiming Marvel didn’t believe he was the right candidate for the job just two months before principal photography was due to begin in late 2022.
According to THR, that was only the start of Blade‘s worries. The Disney subsidiary is believed to have provided Ali, who is said to “envision Blade as his Black Panther“, with a new list of potential directors, only for Ali to dismiss each candidate. The reason? Ali supposedly believed they were “untested at the big studio level”.
Unsurprisingly, last year’s Hollywood strikes also had a major impact on Blade‘s development. The long-running actors and writers disputes saw multiple actors, including Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre, let go, as well as the hiring of other scriptwriters post-strikes to tackle the film’s screenplay. The never-ending cycle of employing new scribes for the film has led to the chopping and changing of its overarching narrative, too, with a 1920s era setting recently making way to set the movie in the present.
One insider also blamed Marvel’s desire to make multiple Disney Plus shows as a reason for them taking its eye off the ball with its theatrical releases, including the Daywalker’s next silver screen adventure. Per THR, the unnamed individual added: “There wasn’t enough attention paid to it. It really was a casualty of the ‘too much’ era.”
The big question on everyone’s lips, then, is will Blade ever get made? The short answer is: yes. Despite Blade‘s headache-inducing, multi-year issues, Marvel is still moving forward with the superhero flick, with THR reporting that the comic book giant’s movie/TV show development-to-production success rate viewed as a badge of honor within the company.
It’s unclear if Blade will make its November 2025 launch date but, at some point, Marvel will release the antihero’s next big screen adventure. I hope it’ll be worth the wait.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
