XMen cast officially announced – leaving some fans disappointed Adam White Sat, August 15, 2026 at 12:52 PM UTC 17 The Independent and Yahoo will earn a commission from purchases made via links in this article. Pricing and availability are subject to change. The cast of the new XMen movie has officially been announced, putting to bed months of rumour about who will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most important new franchise.
X-Men cast officially announced – leaving some fans disappointed
Adam White Sat, August 15, 2026 at 12:52 PM UTC
17
The Independent and Yahoo will earn a commission from purchases made via links in this article. Pricing and availability are subject to change.
The cast of the new X-Men movie has officially been announced, putting to bed months of rumour about who will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most important new franchise.
The annual D23 fan convention is taking place over the weekend, with Disney announcing a slew of new projects and teasing films and TV shows due for imminent release, but all eyes were on the new X-Men cast on Friday night (14 August).
Adam Driver, who had been sought by a number of Marvel projects over the years, was confirmed to be playing villain Mr Sinister, while his former Girls co-star Christopher Abbott is officially signed on as Professor X.
Inde Navarrette, who has experienced skyrocketing fame this summer as the star of the surprise smash Obsession, will play Rogue in the new film, while Broadway actor Maya Boyd will make her feature film debut as Storm.
They join the previously announced Heartbreaker star Kit Connor and Ready or Not’s Samara Weaving as Cyclops and Emma Frost, respectively. Sadie Sink will also reprise her role as Jean Grey after debuting the character in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Director Jake Schreier alongside Maya Boyd (Storm), Sadie Sink (Jean Grey), Christopher Abbott (Professor X), Samara Weaving (Emma Frost), Kit Connor (Cyclops) and Inde Navarrette (Rogue) (Getty Images)
But the casting has also thrown for a loop many observers, who had been convinced in recent weeks that certain actors were all but signed onto the new movie.
Cailee Spaeny, the star of Priscilla, Civil War and the recent second season of Beef, was widely tipped to play Rogue in the new movie – with one report suggesting she had it in the bag after trouncing Marty Supreme actor Odessa A’zion in auditions.
One Spaeny fan account went so far as to tweet their excitement over the impending X-Men presentation at D23, only to post a follow-up tweet within minutes of the Navarrette announcement simply saying “LMFAOOOOOOOOO”.
Advertisement
“The amount of fake narratives and rumours the casting of X-MEN caused,” tweeted one person.
“I’m so glad I wasn’t keeping up with all the X-Men casting rumours and getting invested in them,” tweeted another person. “I’m seeing people crashing out over certain people and don’t even know over who.”
May December star Charles Melton had been linked with the role of Beast, but reports this week suggested he had dropped out of contention. The Long Walk’s Cooper Hoffman and Queer’s Drew Starkey had also been linked to Cyclops prior to Connor’s casting.
For weeks it had also been speculated that Storm would be played by actor Jayme Lawson, who appeared as the mayoral candidate in The Batman and the seductive vampire singer Pearline in the Oscar-winning Sinners – a further rumour suggesting that Sinners director Ryan Coogler was personally involved in the Storm casting, because he intends to introduce the character in his forthcoming Black Panther sequel, only strengthened the idea.
The new X-Men are announced at D23 (Getty Images for Disney)
Of course, many of these names could still materialise somewhere in the new X-Men, as MCU chief Kevin Feige promised that the stars announced at D23 were not the entirety of the cast.
The new X-Men film, which will be directed by Thunderbolts’s Jake Schreier, is a significant next step for the slightly beleaguered MCU, which has struggled to replicate its early success in recent years with launches of superhero teams including the Thunderbolts, the Fantastic Four and the Eternals.
X-Men remains a much-loved property, with several cast members from the original films – among them Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming and Rebecca Romijn – all due to reprise their roles in December’s Avengers: Doomsday. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has also been drafted into reprise his role in a number of additional movies over the years, including 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.
Bryan Singer directed the original X-Men in 2000, which was credited with salvaging the superhero genre as a whole following the campy, critically reviled and commercially disappointing 1997 film Batman & Robin.
The movie revolved around a team of mutant superheroes led by the likes of Halle Berry’s Storm and Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey. A prequel series was launched in 2011 with X-Men: First Class, which cast James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Nicholas Hoult as Beast.
The new, currently untitled X-Men film will be released on 5 May, 2028.
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: August 16, 2026 at 09:45AM on Source: PRIME TIME
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle
