Original Blade Director Breaks Silence on Replacement Reveal

Yann Demange is officially the director of Blade, replacing Bassam Tariq at the helm after the latter left the project in October because of production woes. At the time, the split was reported as amicable as can be, and Tariq is publicly backing up those claims. Monday night, the filmmaker shared a congratulatory message with Demange on his Instagram account.

“The news is finally out: my dear brother Yann Mounir Demange is directing Blade! Y’all are in for a real treat,” Tariq shared to his social media. ‘Yann was intrusmental in giving me the courage to start developing Mogul Mowgli. He played a pivotal role during post as well, helping Riz, my editor (Adam Biskupski) and myself get the film across the finish line. During that time and during the pandemic, Yann became a cherished friend and brother. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Tariq expressed well wishes, adding “As he steps into this role, I am proud to support him as he has supported me.”

The fillmmaker shared a similar message after he first left the project, cheering the studio on in support. “Blade‘s been a beautiful ride,” Tariq wrote after departing the project. “At this moment, I’m filled with love and gratitude toward the folks at Marvel as well [as] the incredible crew and cast we assembled. I’m eager to see how the next director builds on the foundation we’ve set.”

Will Black Knight be in Blade?

In the same reports revealing the change in director, it was said the film would be starting over with a fresh new script. Because of that, it’s unclear if Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) is still planned to appear.

“[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 September 6, 2024.

What other characters would you like to see make up the MCU’s new Midnight Suns team? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!