Though we're not sure if there was actually anything to the rumor, the recent online chatter relating to Hunter Schafer (Euphoria, Cuckoo) potentially playing Mystique in Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot gave way to a lot of support for a trans actress to be cast in the role.
Now, two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner and Broadway star Jinkx Monsoon has explained why she would love to see a trans woman play the shape-shifting mutant, while also throwing her hat in the ring.
“Can I manifest something? Marvel has now regained the rights to X-Men. I think it would be a really cool to have a trans woman be Mystique,” Monsoon said on Vulture’s Good One podcast. “She is my favorite Marvel character of all time, and I relate to her so much.”
“And I think a lot of trans people do, and we think about how nice it would be to just blend in and not have everyone pay attention to us if we don’t want," she continued. "And then, we also relate to the fact that she’s not accepted in her original form, so she has to transition to even walk around.”
“I texted my agent, I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on there, but please start dropping my name,'” she added.
Mystique was previously played by Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence, and the former is set to reprise the role for Avengers: Doomsday. We're not sure if Raven Darkholme will even be a part of the new MCU X-Men roster, however.
If you're not familiar with Monsoon's hilarious Drag Race appearances, she also played Maestro in Doctor Who, and voiced Bruce in Resident Alien.
Director Jake Schreier recently confirmed that work on the new X-Men movie has begun, and we have heard that casting is underway.
The likes of Harris Dickinson, Margaret Qualley, and Julia Butters have previously been rumored to be on the studio's radar (they were reportedly in contention to play Cyclops, Rogue and Kitty Pryde, but we don't know if this is still the case), along with Alien: Romulus star David Jonsson and Trinity Bliss, who may be in line to play Jubilee.
Other names that have popped up in the rumor mill include Hunter Schafer (Mystique) and Javier Bardem (Mr. Sinister).
Here's what Kevin Feige had to say about his "10-year plan" for the Mutant Saga in a recent interview.
"I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back."
Macbeth (2015), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and Assassin's Creed (2016) scribe Michael Lesslie penned the script, but we wouldn't be surprised if another writer (or two) were brought in to give it another pass before the movie enters production.
No release date has been set.