Wesley Snipes has insisted Mahershala Ali isn’t to blame for the ongoing delays to the Blade reboot.

The actor, who led three Marvel films as the titular vampire hunter, has defended his successor amid the ongoing production delays.

“I shouted him out, told him he’s got all my blessings and support,” Snipes told Entertainment Weekly. “I even referenced the fact that some of the challenges they’re facing now with the project, it shouldn’t be accredited to him.”

“It’s not the actor’s fault,” he continued. “There’s a lot more that goes on with pulling this Blade stuff off… You need a lot of secret sauce to do the Blade thing, man. Good luck. You’re my man, though.”

Snipes added that he hasn’t spoken to the Oscar-winning actor since “all the stories” about the film’s production problems came out. He poked fun at the issues in June, joking on X that the filmmakers are “still lookin for the secret sauce”.

When the Blade reboot was announced in 2019, Snipes issued a statement congratulating Ali on landing the job, calling him “a beautiful and talented artist whose expressions I look forward to experiencing for many years to come”.

Since 2019, the production has suffered several setbacks, including the exit of first director Bassam Tariq and then his replacement Yann Demange.

Marvel boss Kevin Feige recently explained that they were taking their time to get Blade just right.

“I mean, for the last two years as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right Blade movie. Because there were some great Blade movies years ago,” he said in an interview with BlackTree TV earlier this month.

Snipes played the character in 1998’s Blade, 2002’s Blade II and 2004’s Blade: Trinity.

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