Mogul Mowgli director Bassam Tariq is in talks to direct Marvel Studios' Blade movie, starring Mahershala Ali.
The two-time Oscar winner was announced to portray the vampire hunter at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019.
The highly anticipated film is currently undated, but expected to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Four.
In February, Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour was confirmed to write the movie's script, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige producing.
Wesley Snipes previously played the half-vampire superhero in a trilogy of box-office blockbusters, beginning with 1998's Blade.
The series, which included 2002's Blade II and 2004's Blade Trinity, focused on the vigilante, a human who possesses vampire strength and protect humans from the bloodsuckers.
Feige was a co-producer on Trinity.
The long-anticipated reboot came together after Ali, who starred in the Marvel series Luke Cage for Netflix, made it known to Marvel Studios that he wanted to take up Snipes' superhero mantle.
Marvel Studios eagerly accepted Ali's pitch and the rest is cinematic history.
On Tariq's side of the camera, the filmmaker's most high-profile movie to date was 2020's Mogul Mowgli, which starred Riz Ahmed.
Tariq's filmography of documentaries and short films includes These Birds Walk, 11/8/16, Red Mountain Choir, Wa'ad, Mogambo and Ghosts of Sugar Land.
With Tariq's hiring, the filmmaker would join an all-star lineup of Phase Four directors – which is also the MCU's most diverse group yet – including Cate Shortland (Black Widow), Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings), Chloe Zhao (The Eternals), Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Fantastic Four), Sam Raimi (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness), Taika Waititi (Thor: Love And Thunder), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Nia DaCosta (The Marvels), Peyton Reed (Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania) and James Gunn (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3). – Reuters
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