Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier has been tapped to helm Marvel Studios' long-awaited X-Men reboot. The movie, which fans have been waiting for since 2019's Disney/Fox merger, will likely set the tone for the next era of MCU storytelling (widely theorised to be the "Mutant Saga").
With The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes scribe Michael Lesslie hard at work on the script, there have already been rumours about who will play the next generation of X-Men. Regarding Cyclops, one name that keeps coming up is Avatar: The Way of Water star Jack Champion.
Fans have responded positively to the prospect of him playing Scott Summers in the MCU, and asked Champion for his thoughts while talking to him, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Pinocchio), for their new movie, Everything's Going to Be Great.
"It’s, uh, definitely news to me," the Avatar: Fire and Ash star responded. "I mean, I don’t…I hope it comes true, you know. I would definitely love to play that character, but…rumours [shrugs]."
Is he playing coy or genuinely unaware that Marvel Studios is considering him for the role of Cyclops? It's hard to say, but he's clearly open to the idea of suiting up as the leader of the X-Men. At 20, he's the right age to play a younger version of this character and can spend the next decade plus telling Cyclops' story in a way the 20th Century Fox movies didn't.
We'll see what happens, but other rumoured additions to the X-Men cast include Cynthia Erivo as Storm, Julia Butters as Kitty Pryde, Hunter Schafer as Mystique, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss as Jubilee, Margaret Qualley as Rogue, Jesse Plemons as Beast, Denzel Washington as Magneto, and Champion's Everything's Going to Be Great co-star Bryan Cranston as Professor X.
You can hear more from Champion and Ainsworth in the player below.
There’s no business like show business — for Buddy and Macy Smart (Primetime Emmy winner Bryan Cranston and Oscar winner Allison Janney) that means an unpredictable life in regional theater while trying to raise their radically different sons, Lester and Derrick. Through it all, Buddy pursues his unstoppable dreams, and Macy is left to pull it all together and keep the family afloat. As the family grapples with identity and belonging, they share a humorous and heartfelt journey of self-discovery, learning the power of owning your spotlight, no matter what stage of life you’re in.
Directed by Jon S. Baird (Tetris) and written by Steven Rogers (I, Tonya), Everything's Going to Be Great stars Allison Janney, Bryan Cranston, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Jack Champion, Simon Rex, and Chris Cooper, and is now playing in select theaters.