Marvel Zombies producers "didn't know" they would be the ones to bring Blade back to Marvel: "We thought that the live-action version was going to come out before"

Marvel Zombies is almost here! The four-episode animated series drops onto Disney Plus next week on September 24. The new show takes place in a parallel world where humanity has been almost completely wiped out by a plague of the living dead. Now, a desperate band of Marvel heroes are the only hope to save the world.

One of these heroes is – unexpectedly – a brand new version of Blade, voiced by Todd Williams. Part of the reason the character's appearance in the show is so surprising is because Marvel Studios has repeatedly struggled to get a new Blade movie off the ground.

"We didn't know that it was going to be the first," director Brad Winderbaum tells GamesRadar+ in an exclusive interview about the new show. "We thought that the live-action version was going to come out before the animated version. So for us to be the first MCU version of Blade is really an honor. Hopefully we did it justice. I think we did."

Of course, the Marvel Zombies take on the character is quite different to the Blade previously seen in comics and the Wesley Snipes movies. Known as Blade Knight, this new take on the character is both the taciturn warrior we all know and love and the Avatar of Konshu – a role usually reserved for Moon Knight.

"I don't think we had any fear," said co-showrunner Bryan Andrews, discussing this new twist on a beloved character. "It's Blade. We get Blade. But then this is [also] its own thing – it's Blade Knight. No matter what happens anywhere else, this is this and all bets are off. We all know Blade as a root beginning and then we're adding the Fist of Khonsu aspect to it. We were just able to go nuts and have a blast."

Marvel Zombies arrives on Disney Plus on September 24. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows still to come as part of Marvel Phase 6 and beyond.