This is going to be exciting!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stacey Osei-Kuffour has been tapped to write the new Blade film, making history as the first Black woman to write a Marvel Studios film.
The New York playwright will pen the new film starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. Osei-Kuffour is known for her work on HBO’s Watchmen as a writer and story editor. Now, she is coming on to the Blade reboot to bring fresh eyes to an old story.
The writer’s name is Stacy Osei-Kuffour, and she’s Black.
advertisementWould be nice if they put her name in the tweet, there’re enough characters left. https://t.co/PWT4RnhXLj
— Black Women’s Lives Matter. Carolyn Hinds (@CarrieCnh12) February 6, 2021
The Blade series was created in 1973 and revived during the early 2000s in a string of movies starring Wesley Snipes. The character is a human-vampire hybrid that has become a fan favorite. Over the last six months, Marvel has focused on finding a writer in partnership with Ali to bring the reboot to life, focusing only on Black writers to be more diverse and inclusionary. Osei-Kuffour’s work on Watchmen, Amazon’s Hunters, HBO’s Run, and an Emmy nomination for her work on Hulu’s Pen15 made her the top pick.
I’m gonna cry bc @stacyamma is my friend and we used to write in her apartment and eat cookies and now she’s an Emmy winning Marvel writer and I just…! https://t.co/xGQU0q8lgR
advertisement— Constance Vigilance (@ConStar24) February 5, 2021
Talks of a new Blade were first revealed in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, with Ali coming on as the star was revealed shortly afterward. Nia DaCosta recently made history as the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film after being tapped to helm Captain Marvel 2. Now, Osei-Kuffour is following in her footsteps, carving a new path for Black women in film.
Stacy Osei-Kuffour is the first Black woman to write a Marvel Studios film (‘Blade’) & Nia DaCosta is the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film (‘Captain Marvel 2’).
Here’s hoping for many more! pic.twitter.com/jx5PCxD2BY
advertisement— Britany (@britany_murphs) February 5, 2021
No word yet on when Blade will hit theaters, but the train is moving along!
Photo Courtesy of Will Sanjuan/Associated Press