Although the general public learned that a Blade reboot was on the way back at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, it’s been over the last year that the project starring Mahershala Ali as the title vampire hunter has been making steady progress. The latest update on this Marvel Cinematic Universe installment is another casting, following last November’s news that Delroy Lindo would be joining Ali. Blade has now recruited Aaron Pierre, one of the stars of the DC series Krypton, into its ranks.
For those who didn’t watch the short-lived Syfy series, Aaron Pierre played Dev-Em, a Kryptonian solider who was intended to marry Georgina Campbell’s Lyta-Zod. It’s unclear who Pierre will play in Blade, but Deadline has heard that it is “one of the more highly coveted parts in Hollywood” since Mogul Mowgli’s Bassam Tariq came aboard to direct, and that he was one of dozens of actors Marvel Studios met with in recent weeks.
Blade marks the second upcoming Disney-affiliated movie that Aaron Pierre has become attached to, as he’s also set to voice Mufasa in the upcoming Lion King prequel being directed by Barry Jenkins. Pierre also starred in The Underground Railroad miniseries that aired on Amazon, and he made his feature film debut last year as Mid-Sized Sedan in the M. Night Shyamalan’s Old. His other upcoming movies include Netflix’s Rebel Ridge and Amazon’s Foe.
It’s anyone’s guess at this point who Aaron Pierre will play in Blade, although there’s already speculation on line that he might have been brought aboard as Hannibal King, a major supporting character in the Blade mythos who Ryan Reynolds played in 2004’s Blade: Trinity. Whether this is the case or not, if this role is as big a deal as we’ve been led to believe, then it’s possible this mystery individual could not only return in hypothetical Blade sequels, but also appear in other MCU projects. For now though, all we know is that after his brief time in the DC world, Pierre is now getting to leave his mark on the Marvel landscape.
Nearly two decades have passed since Wesley Snipes’ Blade film series concluded, and Marvel Studios decided that it was time to bring a new version of the Daywalker into this superhero franchise when Mahershala Ali had a pitch meeting with Kevin Feige. Watchmen’s Stacy Osei-Kuffour is writing the reboot’s script, and while we still haven’t seen Ali’s version of Blade yet, he did vocally cameo as the character in Eternals’ post-credits scene. Filming is expected to begin this summer.
We’ll keep you in the loop about more Blade-related updates as they trickle in, including where the reboot ends up on the calendar of upcoming Marvel movies. The next MCU theatrical installment on the docket is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for May 6.
