We're still waiting for an official cast announcement for Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot (SDCC seems likely), but there have been a lot of rumors doing the rounds over the past few months.
Casting is now believed to be underway, but director Jake Schreier wasn't quite ready to confirm anything in a recent interview.
While speaking to Collider at the Gotham Television Awards earlier this month, Schreier did indicate that he's been having conversations with potential cast members, while adding that "most" of the rumors he's read online are untrue.
“We’re talking about things, we’re thinking about things,” Schreier said. “I can tell you most of the stuff that gets posted online, I don’t know where it comes from, because it doesn’t come from our room, and it isn't what we're discussing. But there is a process.”
For now, we can add another rumor to the list! According to MTTSH, Charles Melton is in talks for an undisclosed role in the reboot.
Melton's breakout role was Reggie Mantle in the CW's Riverdale, and his star has been on the rise following acclaimed performances in Beef Season 2 and 2023's May December. The actor, who is of Korean-American descent, is now 35, but can still get away with playing significantly younger.
During a recent interview with Collider, Kevin Feige confirmed that the movie will be "youth-oriented."
"Jake’s an incredibly smart guy, and he’s an incredibly talented filmmaker. We had a great experience with him on Thunderbolts, and if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions—he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic... because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie."
If Melton is in line for a role in X-Men, which character could you see him playing?
Rumor has it that the core team will consist of the OG mutant heroes from the comics (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman), but we have heard that the likes of Rogue, Mystique, Gambit and Jubilee will also feature in some capacity.
Hunter Schafer's (Euphoria, Cuckoo) name continues to be brought up for Mystique, as does Cynthia Erivo's (Wicked For Good) for Storm. During a recent episode of The Hot Mic, Jeff Sneider mentioned that Marvel is looking at Odessa A'Zion (I Love LA) to play Rogue and Peter Claffey (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) to take on the role of Beast.
Schreier recently revealed that his Thunderbolts* scribes Sonny Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Joanna Calo (The Bear) had come aboard the MCU reboot to write a new draft of Michael Lesslie's script, and the former confirmed his involvement while also revealing two of his favorite characters earlier this week.
"Well, it's X-Men. It's something I grew up with. I have fond memories of my father and me waking up on Saturday mornings to watch the X-Men cartoon. I read the comics," said Sung Jin during an interview with Variety. "So when he comes calling about that, no matter how much you've got going on."
"I love Gambit. I also love a lot of the side characters. I love Jubilee. Everyone goes for Cyclops and Wolverine, but for me growing up, I always loved the supporting members," he added.
While this shouldn't be taken as any kind of confirmation that Gambit or Jubilee will be part of the rebooted team, it could suggest that there will be more of a focus on certain characters that have been underutilised in the past.
Schreier was even more tight-lipped, declining to even mention his favourite mutants for fear of giving something away.
"I’ve worked with Sonny [Lee] and Joanna on so many things,” he said. “Anytime you can work with people that you care so deeply about and who are so talented at their craft, and you have made something together where you have a shorthand, if you can keep going with that, it always seems like a good thing to do.”