Director Josh Boone explained why X-Men heroes Storm and Professor X were not included in The New Mutants. According to the filmmaker, the response to X-Men: Apocalypse factored into the decision to cut both characters from the upcoming film.
20th Century Studio's X-Men film series is set to conclude with the release of The New Mutants, a more horror-centric superhero film based on the eponymous comic book team of the same name. Originally scheduled to be released in theaters in April 2018, The New Mutants was delayed multiple times due to reshoots and Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox before the coronavirus pandemic led to another postponement earlier this year. Now, The New Mutants is set to debut in theaters on August 28, 2020, and although the long-awaited film will introduce several newcomers to the franchise, classic heroes from the original films don't appear to be involved in the final chapter of this iteration of X-Men.
During an interview with Slash Film, Josh Boone revealed that Storm and Professor X, respectively portrayed by Alexandra Shipp and James McAvoy in the X-Men prequels, were originally included in The New Mutants when the film was going to be set in the '80s. However, 20th Century Fox encouraged Boone to keep The New Mutants separate from the rest of the films following the negative response to X-Men: Apocalypse. "Originally, Professor X and Storm were in it, and Storm very much played the Alice Braga role. Over the course of months, a new studio head came in, they said they didn’t want any X-Men movies to take place in the past anymore, as if that was the reason that Apocalypse was bad. [laughs] So we were put in the position where we kind of rewrote it to be set now in a nebulous [point in time], because nobody knew how the movies had turned out," Boone explained.
Although the two most recent X-Men films were not well-received by moviegoers, some might be disappointed to learn that Storm and Professor were ultimately cut from The New Mutants. With a relatively smaller cast than previous X-Men films, The New Mutants might have provided the perfect opportunity to spotlight Storm, a character many fans feel has been underused on screen.
However, others are eager to see how Marvel Studios will adapt the X-Men comics now that the production company has gained the screen rights to the characters in Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Although stars from the previous films have expressed an interest in reprising their roles in Marvel Studios' X-Men projects, the company is expected to reboot the franchise with new actors portraying the mutants.
New Mutants will be released in theaters on August 28, 2020.
Source: Slash Film