NEW MUTANTS Star Henry Zaga Details Trilogy Plans (Antonio Banderas?!) & Bromance With Cannonball - EXCLUSIVE

The women of The New Mutants will understandably take center stage, with Dani Moonstar's (Blu Hunt) personal ties to the Demon Bear as well as her burgeoning romance with Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), but the upcoming Josh Boone-directed film will also feature what sounds like a pretty fun bromance between Sunspot and Cannonball, played by Henry Zaga and Charlie Heaton, respectively. 

Speaking with Zaga during the press tour this week, the actor very enthusiastically explained his dynamic with Cannonball,

"Sunspot has a bromance, man, he and Sam are really tight. They’re incredibly different, but they know each other on a deeper level, I think that Sam knows that Roberto comes from a good place, even when he’s being a dick. He doesn’t want to be a dick, he’s traumatized too, and there’s so much more to him than the surface-level, jokester front he puts up. 

He’s a guy that really just needs a friend and I think Sam does that really well. He’s a great friend to Roberto. There’s a line that I love in the movie that when Sam gives me the go, he goes “Nut up ‘Berto!,” and it’s finally when you see me become Sunspot. 

That was one of the most rewarding relationships for me to play, outside of growing even closer to Josh, Charlie and I have become such great friends, he’s a wonderful actor and person, and it was like Sam and Roberto’s relationship bleeding into real life."

It remains to be seen exactly how much levity the film contains, but it does sound like Sunspot and Cannonball will do their best to keep things relatively light throughout the course of the film, which could be a welcome reprieve from the darker elements of the story. 

On another note, with Marvel Studios regaining the X-Men and all of their associated characters, it's highly unlikely we'll actually get to see Josh Boone's plans for a trilogy realized, but that doesn't make speculating about what might happen any less exciting, and it sounds like Zaga got very fanboyish himself when any rumor would hit the web. 

With a big smile across his face, he tells us, "I love that you guys ask me these questions because I know about as much as you do, I've read your stuff, the stuff other guys post online, any article that has my Twitter handle tagged, and I react just like everyone else. “Oh cool, I didn’t know, that’s awesome.”

After taking somewhat of a backseat here, Sunspot was all-set to have his moment in the spotlight in the next film, which would've moved the action to Brazil as the New Mutants - with new characters Warlock and Karma in tow - squared off with Roberto's evil father Emmanuel da Costa, who, rumor has it, was to be played by Academy Award-nominee Antonio Banderas.

Now, while he doesn't confirm Banderas was ever actually cast, he doesn't exactly deny it either, and seemingly expresses excitement at the prospect of getting to work with the legendary actor. 

Josh has a great vision for Sunspot’s story and for the trilogy, for a continuation of our movie. All I can say is that it would be incredible to film in Rio and dive deeper into Roberto’s life and work with Antonio Banderas, but yeah, I don’t know.

I don’t know, it’s a huge question mark still up in the air, but again, it all depends on the fans really. I mean, if the fans want a second one, and they show up in theaters this weekend and show their love online to Marvel, to Disney, then there may be no other option and we might get to make another one."

Stay tuned for more exclusive The New Mutants coverage!

20th Century Fox in association with Marvel Entertainment presents “The New Mutants,” an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring. When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle to try and make it out alive.