"Well of course it was Wolverine! All of these movies are just Wolverine movies!" etc etc. Yes, Hugh Jackman's mutant berserker has been the primary protagonist (every movie needs one folks) in all but one of the X-Men movies so far, and will likely continue to be until he gives up playing the role. But, although Simon Kinberg admits that his popularity was a factor, there was a much more logical reason why Logan was chosen to go back to the past in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days Of Future Past, and not Kitty Pryde. Turns out they did think of Miss Pryde first, but from the beginning it was always the plan to send only the consciousness and not the character's actual body back..and that really limited their options.
"We made the decision for a lot of reasons, some of them obvious and some of them more nuanced, to make it Wolverine who goes back in time. One reason is that he's the protagonist of the franchise, and probably the most beloved character to a mass audience. Probably the bigger reason is that when we started thinking about the logistical realities of Kitty's consciousness being sent back in time, to her younger self, as opposed to her physical body being sent back..it was impossible. Obviously in the book it's Kitty..but you're talking about an actress (Ellen Page) who, in the age of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, would have been negative 20 years old. So we started thinking again, and the first reflex response to that was a character who doesn't age. Wolverine is the only character who would looks the same in 1973 as he does in the future."
For more be sure to pick up the latest issue of Total Film magazine, on sale now.