Delroy Lindo has joined the cast of Marvel’s “Blade.”
Delroy Lindo has joined the cast of Marvel Studios’ “Blade,” which stars Mahershala Ali as a human-vampire hybrid named Blade. Lindo, who most recently starred in the Netflix Western “The Harder They Fall,” is the first fresh addition to the crew since Ali announced the “Blade” reboot at Marvel Studios’ 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel.
The feature film is directed by Bassam Tariq (“Mogul Mowgli”) from a script by Stacy Osei-Kuffour (HBO’s “Watchmen”).
It’s unknown who Lindo will portray, but one potential contender is Jamal Afari, who reared and mentored Blade — a.k.a. Eric Brooks — in the arts of vampire hunting when Eric was a child in the Marvel books. Jamal is Black in the comics, but the character was renamed Abraham Whistler and cast with white actor Kris Kristofferson in the 1998 movie adaptation of “Blade” starring Wesley Snipes. “Blade” has yet to be given a release date by Marvel, but it is expected to hit theaters in the fall of 2023.
Lindo recently collaborated with Spike Lee on Netflix’s “Da 5 Bloods,” which received tremendous acclaim. Bass Reeves, the real-life lawman who inspired the Lone Ranger, is played by the streamer in the Western epic “The Harder They Fall.” The actor is slated to make his directing debut with the film “Jabari’s People,” which is part of Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys” series on Amazon.
Lindo recently collaborated with Spike Lee on Netflix’s “Da 5 Bloods,” which received tremendous acclaim. Bass Reeves, the real-life lawman who inspired the Lone Ranger, is played by the streamer in the Western epic “The Harder They Fall.” The actor is slated to make his directing debut with the film “Jabari’s People,” which is part of Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys” series on Amazon.
In Marvel Studios’ “Eternals,” Ali made his audio-only debut as Blade in a post-credits sequence in which Blade (off screen) advises Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman not to take up a cursed sword known as the Ebony Blade. While the scene suggests Harington will appear in Ali’s “Blade” film, the former “Game of Thrones” actor told Variety in October that he had no idea.
“I have no idea,” Harington said. “I’m assuming that that would be the case. But who knows?”
It was not possible to reach a spokesperson for Marvel to obtain a comment.
