Cast of live-action instalment of X-Men reboot revealed with release date
A handful of the cast of the upcoming X-Men reboot has been announced at Disney's D23 event, just weeks after the first member of the team appeared in an MCU movie.
After months of speculation, Spider-Man: Brand New Day revealed that Sadie Sink was set to play the iconic Jean Grey in the MCU, and will be returning for the 2028 X-Men film - which will come almost three decades on from the original movie in 2000.
Sink was not the first to be announced, with two further names revealed in the last few weeks confirmed to be playing Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Emma Frost.
Now, more members of the new X-Men cast have been unveiled, as well as a release date of May 5, 2028.
Kit Connor - Scott Summers aka Cyclops
Kit Connor, best known for the Netflix drama Heartstopper, as well as the film Warfare, was announced last week to be playing Scott Summers, the leader of the X-Men.
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Connor takes over the iconic role that was previously played by James Marsden, Tye Sheridan, and (though many will forget this one) by Tim Pocock in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Fans expect Summers to play a much larger role in the upcoming X-Men film after major criticisms of the original trilogy of movies for not placing more emphasis on the comic-favourite.
Sadie Sink - Jean Grey
Sink announced mutants to the world of the MCU (albeit without ever saying the word ‘mutant’) in Spider-Man: Brand New Day when she played Jean Grey.
Sink’s character was kept under wraps in the leadup to Brand New Day before it was revealed that she was the villain of the movie and iconic psychic of the X-Men.
The former Stranger Things actress admitted in her first interview since the film was released with Variety that she previously knew very little about the X-Men, but had since researched them deeply, saying: “The more I’ve gotten into it and researched, what makes them special is that they are all incredibly flawed and maybe have done bad things.
"That makes them more compelling, complex characters and a more complex hero if they don’t start out that way."
Grey was previously played by Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner in previous films.
Adam Driver - Nathaniel Essex/Milbury, aka Mister Sinister
Adam Driver sent fans in a frenzy when he made a surprise cameo at D23 on Friday (14 August) to initially say he was playing Magneto - but this, of course, turned out to be a joke as he confirmed he'd be stepping into the shoes of Mister Sinister.
One of the most dangerous recurring foes in the X-Men mythos, Mister Sinister is a twisted geneticist who enhanced himself with telepathy, shape-shifting, and near-immortality. Operating from the shadows, he is a master manipulator who views mutants merely as raw material for his dark evolutionary experiments and sinister cloning schemes.
Samara Weaving - Emma Frost
The third X-Men casting to have been announced prior to D23 saw Samara Weaving take on the role of Emma Frost.
Weaving is best known for her roles in horror films such as Ready or Not; however, she will be joining the MCU’s most anticipated upcoming movie.
Emma Frost is an on-again-off-again member of the X-Men who just as frequently appears as part of Magneto’s evil ‘Brotherhood of Mutants’ as she does on the side of good.
The ‘Ice Queen’ character has appeared twice in films in the past, playing a key role in X-Men: First Class, played by January Jones, with a brief cameo as a younger version of the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, played by Tahyna Tozzi.
Inde Navanette - Rogue
Anna Paquin was essentially the star of the first X-Men alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but she never got much attention in the films after that.
In the comics, Rogue is amongst the most powerful mutants around, particularly when you factor in that they can actually now carry out her origin of taking the powers of Captain Marvel now that she’s in the MCU.
Hopefully upcoming sequels will introduce her longtime love interest Gambit to star alongside her, but for now X-Men fans will just be excited to see another version of Rogue on screen with a great young actor in Inde Navanette, who rose to fame from her role in the horror Obsession.
Christopher Abbot - Charles Xavier aka Professor X
Xavier is perhaps the hardest character to cast considering Abbot is competing with the iconic performances of Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy.
McAvoy appeared in four films starting with First Class, whilst Stewart has appeared as the character in a whopping six movies across the original trilogy, one prequel film, and even a cameo in the MCU’s Doctor Strange sequel.
The leader and founder of the X-Men, Xavier is sure to be playing a core part in the movie.
Maya Boyd - Storm
Storm will be played in the upcoming X-Men movie by Maya Boyd and, as with Rogue, will be hoped by fans of the X-Men to have a far bigger role than she did when played by Halle Berry in the original X-Men trilogy.
Ororo was also played by Alexandra Shipp in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, but once again was never given a role of substance in the former movies in a highly criticised move.
Topics: Disney, TV and Film, X-Men, Entertainment
Michael Slavin