Director Josh Boone’s X-Men film spinoff New Mutants is reportedly not including rumored actors James McAvoy and Nat Wolff. The X-Men franchise has undergone some big changes since the release of X-Men: Apocalypse last year, which underperformed compared to the box office success than its feature film predecessor X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. With original X-Men and First Class iterations of the mutant tale apparently at the end of their movie runs, Fox is skewing younger going forward with the X-Men franchise: starting with the TV series The Gifted this fall, and Boone’s 2018 film New Mutants, with both projects focusing on teen versions of the characters in the X-Men universe.
New Mutants took two big steps forward with the casting of Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams and Split’s Anya Taylor-Joy, who are in line to play Wolfsbane and Magik, respectively. Unfortunately, it appears that Taylor-Joy’s Split co-star McAvoy – who played Professor Charles Xavier in First Class, Days of the Future Past and Apocalypse – will not be on board for New Mutants; nor will be Wolff, who was reportedly in the running to play in the running to play Cannonball.
THR Heat Vision writer Borys Kit, who broke the news about Williams’ and Taylor-Joy’s casting, also noted Thursday that neither McAvoy or Wolff would appear in New Mutants. He spilled the details in a pair of tweets, seen below:
On NEW MUTANTS: other rumored castings - James McAvoy as Prof X - not true. He is not in movie, per sources.— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 11, 2017
On #NewMutants: other rumored casting - Nat Wolff as Canonball - not happening either.— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 11, 2017
While Wolff would have been a great casting addition to New Mutants, fans shouldn’t fuss too much about him missing out on the film. He seemed to be a natural after his standout performance in Boone’s The Fault in Our Stars, but after that film and his stellar turn in Paper Towns, he’s been in high demand in Hollywood. Should Boone find success in New Mutants and the series continues, don’t be surprised if Wolff somehow becomes a part of it.
Easily the biggest letdown coming out of Thursday’s revelations is that McAvoy won’t appear, especially after he made Professor X his own in the last three X-Men movies. The absence in New Mutants could be matter of a couple different things. For one, it could solely focus on the teen mutant’s travails before they come into contact with Charles Xavier and his School for Gifted Youngsters; or Boone could basically be dealing with some scheduling issues.
Whatever the case may be, expect more details to come relatively soon, along with prospective actors being eyed to play Sunspot, Mirage, Warlock and possibly, Cannonball; especially since the film will reportedly shoot this summer for its April 13, 2018, release.
Next: New Mutants: Maisie Williams & Anya Taylor-Joy Officially On Board
Source: Borys Kit
