It’s been well over a year since Marvel revealed its plans to reboot the Blade franchise with Mashershala Ali taking over for Wesley Snipes as the title character. Now, the studio has finally locked down a screenwriter for the film. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Stacy Osei-Kuffour will pen the vampire hunter’s big-screen return.
Osei-Kuffour has dabbled in the superhero realm before, having worked as a story editor on HBO’s Watchmen. She also co-wrote the series’ seventh episode, “An Almost Religious Awe,” with Claire Kiechel. Last year, her work on Watchmen earned her a WGA Award for Best New Series along with the rest of the show’s writing staff. Osei-Kuffour also previously received an Emmy nod for writing an episode of Hulu’s PEN15.
RELATED: Mahershala Ali Says Marvel Was Originally Developing a Blade TV Series
Landing the Blade gig didn’t come easy for Osei-Kuffour, who’s now the first Black woman to write an MCU feature. According to THR, Marvel spent a grand total of six months scouting potential scribes for the movie. The studio only took pitches from Black writers, which lines up with earlier reports about Marvel’s intentions for the reboot. Back in October, word surfaced that the studio was seeking to fill Blade’s behind-the-scenes crew with predominantly Black talent. Additionally, Ali himself was “directly involved” in the search. Now that a screenplay is in the works, Marvel’s next move is to hire a director for the project.
As exciting as this news is, the MCU’s take on Blade is still a ways off. Shortly after announcing the film in 2019, Kevin Feige confirmed that it wouldn’t hit theaters any sooner than Phase Five. Since Phase Four only just got started with the premiere of WandaVision on Disney+ last month, we shouldn’t expect Ali to suit up as the Daywalker for at least a few years.
Are you excited to see what Osei-Kuffour does with Blade? Let us know in the comments down below!
Recommended Reading: Blade by Marc Guggenheim: The Complete Collection
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