Blade Director Bassam Tariq Departs Project

09/27/2022 11:16 pm EDT

Marvel's Blade reboot is suddenly in the search for a new director. Late Tuesday night, reports surfaced suggesting Bassam Tariq had departed the project. In a statement released by Marvel Studios, it's said Tariq left the project because of shifting production dates.

"Due to continued shifts in our production schedule, Bassam is no longer moving forward as director of Blade but will remain an executive producer on the film," Marvel said in a statement to THR. "We appreciate Bassam's talent and all the work he's done getting Blade to where it is."

Tariq added his own statement, "Its been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel. We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film."

ComicBook.com can confirm a new writer has been hired to board the project for rewrites as well. Moon Knight alumnus Beau DeMayo is actively rewriting the script first developed by Tariq and Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour. The news was first reported by Murphy's Multiverse Tuesday morning.

It's said Marvel Studios is already undergoing a search to replace Tariq as principal photography was set to begin in a matter of weeks.

Mahershala Ali's fan-favorite half-vampire appeared in the post-credits scene to Eternals in voice only, teasing a crossover with Kit Harington's Dane Whitman/Black Knight.

"[Blade] was [part of the scene] for reasons hopefully that would become apparent as you see more things, but [Mahershal Ali] wasn't there on the day," Eternals producer Nate Moore previously told us. "And we talked about two versions of that, one where we would cut to him and one where we wouldn't. 'How textual do you want it to be?' And again, it was more just for the fun of it, to tease it a little bit, to hear the voice and not see the man. He was game to do it. Because the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that's an interesting kind of thing to play with. So, we kind of knew that was on the table."

Blade is set for release on November 3, 2023.

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