Today, a report announced that Oscar-award-winning actor Mahershala Ali has joined the ensemble cast of the upcoming Jurassic World sequel. Given his selectiveness with big blockbusters, this is one of the only times Ali has joined a big tentpole franchise besides Alita: Battle Angel. He joins the cast, including Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Rupert Friend. The film will be directed by Gareth Edwards (The Creator) and have a screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park). Steven Speilberg will produce under his Amblin Entertainment production banner.
Many fans may worry this is the last nail in the coffin regarding Ali’s involvement with the upcoming Blade reboot. As far as anyone knows, Ali is still attached to the long-in-development vampire film at Marvel Studios. According to DanielRPK on Patreon, the film is looking for another writer but only to do some rewrites on the current script. Last we heard, Michael Green (Logan) entirely rewrote several previous drafts. The film is still slated to begin production in Mexico & Brazil this fall with a minimal budget of around $50 million. Other rumors have stated it’s no longer a period piece but set in the modern day with a new male villain alongside the previously rumored character Lilith (played by Mia Goth). Finally, it sounds like this film will be fully rated R and void of any humor like Marvel is known for. Though to be fair, the original Blade films had several humorous one-liners in the 1990s.
Jurassic World is slated to hit theaters July 2nd, 2025; Blade also slated to hit later in 2025
Source: Variety
