Frankenstein star Mia Goth has said that Marvel's decision to delay its long-awaited Blade reboot and retool the movie's story was "for the best."
Speaking to Elle this week, Goth confirmed she was still set to star in the project despite the ongoing wait for it to actually materialise.
Marvel announced it was making Blade back in 2019, and confirmed that Mahershala Ali would feature as a new version of its infamous vampire hunter, previously seen on screen played by Wesley Snipes. But, more than six years later, the project is still nowhere near filming — despite plans getting close enough at one point that a wardrobe of clothes was made for the film's supporting artists, which were ultimately sold on.
"It's for the best that it's taken the time that it has," Goth said this week, in a brief update on her involvement. "They want to do it right."
It was reported last year that Goth would play Lilith in the film, the recurring Marvel character and daughter of Dracula. In an earlier version of the script, set in the 1920s, Lilith would have crossed paths with Blade while hunting the blood of the dhampir's daughter.
More recently, Marvel has said it now intends for its new take on Blade to be set in the present day, though the company remains keen to keep Goth attached.
"We've landed on modern day," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said in an interview this summer, acknowledging that Blade's script had so far gone through "three or four" different incarnations, two of which were period pieces.
"We didn't feel like, as we often do, you can have a good script and make it a great script through production," Feige continued, discussing why the project had been pushed back. "We didn't feel confident that we could do that on Blade, and we didn't want to do that to Mahershala and didn't want to do that to us."
Last month, Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum revealed to IGN that his team had pivoted on its plans for Blade in Marvel Zombies, the new animated Disney+ miniseries that now features an all-new alternate universe take on the character, rather than feature an established MCU version. Initially, Winderbaum said, the show had been developed "believing that there would be a Blade movie out well before."
So, when will Blade arrive? For now, Marvel remains busy with its upcoming two Avengers blockbusters, with Avengers: Doomsday due December next year, then Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027. Following that, the company seems most keen to launch an X-Men reboot, with Thunderbolts*/New Avengers director Jake Schreier already attached.
Despite repeated assurances that Marvel will get back to Blade at some point, Marvel fans don't expect to actually see the film for years. Before then, Goth will appear next year in Christoper Nolan's The Odyssey, and then in 2027's Ryan Gosling-starring Star Wars: Starfighter.
Image credit: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
