Wesley Snipes appears as Blade in What We Do in the Shadows

Fifteen years after his exit as Blade in Blade: Trinity, Wesley Snipes makes a surprise cameo in FX’s vampire comedy series.

Wesley Snipes was one of the first Marvel superhero superstars when he kicked off his R-rated Blade trilogy in 1998. He was bloody cool as the half-vampire daywalker, slicing up evil vampires at a time when the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes didn’t exist on the big screen. Now that superhero movies are the most culturally dominant movies in cinemas, Snipes is ready to make his return.

But before joining up with the Avengers, his first stop is in the latest episode of Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. The series is a reworked relative of Waititi’s own 2014 comedy film; the latter took place in Waititi’s home country of New Zealand, while the series is set in Staten Island.

Vampire royalty gather when the core trio from the show must stand trial for vampire murder. This is when a who’s who of famous vampire actors show up as real vampires; a meta pop culture reference with the actors using their real names, only playing the vampire characters from their movies/shows. The only ones who have their character names are the original trinity from the What We Do in the Shadows film – Waititi as Viago, Jemaine Clement as Vladislav, and Jonny Brugh as Deacon.

Their leader is Tilda Swinton, made up as her Only Lovers Left Alive persona where she and Tom Hiddleston portrayed a pair of dreary lovers in Jim Jarmusch’s arthouse vampire film. Also present are Evan Rach Wood (True Blood), Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn), and Paul Reubens (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). There are even a few clever jokes about those who couldn’t make it, such as Rob (Robert Pattinson from Twilight), Keifer (Keifer Sutherland from The Lost Boys), and Tom and Brad (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt from Interview with the Vampire).

Snipes has a particularly funny part when he attends via Skype, wearing his signature pitch black sunglasses. The others don’t care too much for him since he is a daywalker who kills vampires. Tilda backs him up, stating that he is half a vampire, to which Danny replies that he will only listen to half of his opinions. On top of that, he keeps having technical difficulties throughout the trial and ends up commenting on discussion points that have already come and gone.

Could this be a glimpse of a potential return of Wesley Snipes as Blade? Waititi, who just happened to direct Thor: Ragnarok, could be Snipes’ MCU contact. Clement, who also produces the show, has his own Marvel connection as Oliver Bird in Legion. Aside from MCU actress Tilda Swinton, Dave Bautista also shows up in the What We Do in the Shadows episode, only in a different scene. So Snipes is in good company and this appearance may foreshadow his Marvel superhero comeback.