It looks like Marvel Studios has finally found a director to take the helm of the long-awaited X-Men reboot.
According to Deadline, Marvel is staying in-house for MCU debut of the Children of the Atom, with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier in early talks to step behind the camera.
Apparently, early reactions to Thunderbolts* and buzz about the movie being viewed as a return to form for the studio "sealed the deal" for Schreier after months of meetings with potential directors.
"Marvel and Schreier had an incredible experience working together on Thunderbolts*, a film that has since won over critics and fans becoming Marvel’s best reviewed film since Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. While that recent meeting sealed the deal, Marvel execs were well aware how much Schreirer loved the X-Men comics, an early sign that he would ultimately get one of the those meetings to pitch his vision of what a new X-Men movie would look like."
Thunderbolts* has been performing pretty well at the box office so far, but it's hardly been a runaway success. The movie was a big hit with critics, however.
Though new actors will almost certainly be brought in to play the main characters for this reboot, most of the cast of the 20th Century Fox-era films are set to return for Avengers: Doomsday. They are also expected to appear in Secret Wars, so the OG team might factor in to the new X-Men's debut in some capacity.
Though no casting announcements have come in, several actors are believed to be on the studio's radar for key roles.
Harris Dickinson (Babygirl, The Iron Claw, Triangle of Sadness) and Jack Champion (Avatar, Scream 6) are reportedly being eyed to play Cyclops, with The Bear's Ayo Edebiri and Jurassic World: Dominion star DeWanda Wise in line to play Storm. Kitty Pryde and Gambit are also expected to be on the team.
More recently, Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo, Euphoria) was rumored to be up for Mystique, Julia Butters (The Gray Man, The Fablemans) is said to be in talks to play Pryde, and Margaret Qualley might be on the studio's radar for Rogue.
Earlier this year, we reported on a slightly more out-there rumor that Denzel Washington might be set to play Magneto.
We don't know if any of the actors listed above are still (or were ever) in contention, but now that the project has a director attached, we should begin to get casting news fairly soon.
Plot details are still under wraps, and the movie does not have a release date. Michael Lesslie penned the script.