It’s been rumored for a while now that two of Hollywood’s prominent young stars would be joining the cast of X-Men spinoff movie New Mutants, and now it appears to be somewhat more official: The Witch and Split actress Anya Taylor-Joy and Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams (pictured) will play lead roles in the 2018 film.
Taylor-Joy and Williams will reportedly play the mutants Magik and Wolfsbane, respectively, in director Josh Boone’s “young-adult” adventure set in the X-Men cinematic universe.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Mutants is expected to begin filming in July from a script co-written by Boone (The Fault In Our Stars) and his frequent writing partner, Knate Lee. Nothing is official at this point, but various reports suggest that the film will be set within the same cinematic universe as the rest of the X-Men movies — which means that Williams will be reunited (indirectly, at least) with fellow Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, who was introduced as the telepathic mutant Jean Grey in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. The film could also reunite Taylor-Joy with her Split co-star James McAvoy, who plays Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies.
The New Mutants movie is based on the comic book series of the same name created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, which debuted in 1983 and followed a group of teenage mutants dealing with combined stresses of young adulthood and having powerful abilities that set them apart from the rest of humanity.
In Marvel Comics lore, Magik — the character that Taylor-Joy will portray in the film — has the ability to teleport and wield powerful sorcery, in addition to being the mutant sister of the X-Men’s steel-skinned hero Colossus (who most recently appeared in the Deadpool movie). Wolfsbane, who will be played by Williams, was a Scottish girl who struggled to reconcile her strong religious beliefs with her own ability to transform into a powerful, wolf-like creature.
Reports indicate that the studio is searching for a Native American actress to play Danielle Moonstar, a mutant capable of creating terrifying illusions, and a South American actor to play Sunspot, a mutant capable of storing and releasing solar energy in explosive blasts. Also remaining to be cast is Cannonball, a Kentucky teenager who is able to propel himself forward at blazing speed while surrounded by a near-invulnerable barrier, and the alien Warlock, a member of a techno-organic extraterrestrial species.
With New Mutants currently scheduled to premiere April 13, 2018, more updates are likely coming in the near future.
