The future of the X-Men franchise is unclear, but it was recently reported that Simon Kinberg will take the helm of the next instalment of the franchise - rumoured to be titled X-Men: Supernova - as Bryan Singer turns his attentions elsewhere. When JoBlo.com caught up with the writer and producer recently, they were quick to ask about those reports of him taking over.
He also addressed reports that the movie will reboot X-Men: The Last Stand's take on the Dark Phoenix Saga, and while he would neither confirm nor deny that, it sounds like it's definitely on his mind.
"I can tell you that the stories of me directing it are premature, but I can also tell you that we are in prep on what the next X-Men movie will be. We can't confirm what the next movie will be, but I can talk a little about, frankly, what I would do differently if I were to make X-Men: The Last Stand again, which had the Dark Phoenix storyline. I think the big mistake we made with that movie - and if anybody is to blame for it it's the writer, and I was one of them - it's that we made the Dark Phoenix the subplot of that film, instead of making it the main plot. The Dark Phoenix story is the biggest, and in many ways the most epic, saga of the X-Men comics, so you can't make that the B-plot of the movie. If we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to re-tell that story - and certainly, what we did with the end of Days of Future Past gave us the opportunity to re-tell it - I think we all would want to give it the justice and the space to breath that it deserves."
Talk then turned to what's next for certain characters following the release of Logan, and asked about Wolverine's future, Kinberg explained that he's going to be left on the shelf for a while before a new version is inevitably introduced somewhere down the line (hopefully in a yellow and blue costume).
"We haven't started talking about that," he explained. "The truth is, we really approached this as, this is really the end of Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine and it very well be the end of Wolverine in the movies. Beyond that, we'll figure out if there is some other version of him. We haven't gone down that road. We really approached this as if it were the end."
That's pretty vague, but pretty much what we expected. However, one character you have to believe will make a reappearance somewhere down the line is X-23. Interestingly, it almost sounds like the plan is to bring back Dafne Keen rather than casting an older actress to take over. "We have been talking a little bit about that and the possibility certainly exists," added producer Hutch Parker. "She's a remarkable actress, I think she did an amazing job, and a lot of the credit for that goes to Jim [Mangold]. It's certainly a rich opportunity, we haven't gotten specific in any way, but I'd love to see more with that character."
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