Following a rumored short list of potential actors and actresses last November, new names have emerged today said to be in contention to play both Jean Grey (aka Phoenix) and Scott Summers (aka Cyclops) in Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. What’s more, Latino Review also lists two names up for a young Ororo Munroe (aka Storm)!
New names for the Jean Grey role include Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones,” Barely Lethal) and Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Grand Budapest Hotel). They join the previously-rumored Elle Fanning (Maleficent, The Boxtrolls) and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, 3 Days to Kill) in the updated short list. Chloe Grace Moretz (If I Stay, Carrie) was, according to TheWrap reporter Jeff Sneider’s Twitter feed, actually offered the part but had to to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts.
Joining the previously-rumored Timothee Chalamet (Interstellar, Men, Women & Children), Ben Hardy (“EastEnders”) and Charlie Rowe (“Red Band Society”) on the Cyclops shortlist are Taron Edgerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Testament of Youth), Jamie Blackley (If I Stay, Snow White and the Huntsman) and Tye Sheridan (Mud, Joe). According to Sneider, Sheridan is the current frontrunner for the part.
As for Storm, the two names now rumored are Zendaya Coleman, the star of Disney Channel’s “KC Undercover” and Alexandra Shipp, best known for headlining Lifetime’s recent biopic Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B.
Cyclops and Phoenix were previously played in the X-Men films by James Marsden and Famke Janssen (with Tim Pocock playing a younger Summers in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) while Storm has been played in the past by Academy Award winner Halle Berry.
It’s uncertain exactly how large of a role any of these mutants will have in the 2016 feature, although it is widely believed that casting is taking into account plans to feature these characters in subsequent X-Men films.
Confirmed to star James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac and Nicholas Hoult (with more names expected to be confirmed shortly), X-Men: Apocalypse is scripted by Simon Kinberg, Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris. Said to be the conclusion of a trilogy started with X-Men: First Class and continued with X-Men: Days of Future Past, cameras will start rolling on the next adventure in Montreal beginning April, 2015 for a May 27, 2016 release.
(Photo Credit: Lia Toby / Brian To / Ivan Nikolov / Lexi Jones / Dominic Chan / Adriana M. Barraza / Apega / FayesVision / Bridow / WENN.com)
