Mahershala Ali has confirmed he will no longer star in Marvel’s long-delayed Blade reboot, saying the studio could have made the film if it had wanted to. His comments effectively end years of uncertainty around the project and underline Marvel Studios’ failure to move a high-profile reboot into production despite securing an Oscar-winning lead.

Marvel announced Ali as Blade in 2019, but director Bassam Tariq left in 2022 shortly before filming was due to begin, and his replacement Yann Demange later also departed. Ali trained for more than a year in sword fighting and stunt work, later using those skills in Tariq’s new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother; Marvel had previously included Ali’s Blade voice in Eternals, while Wesley Snipes returned as the character in Deadpool & Wolverine.