‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ was jam-packed with characters. Luckily, it didn’t suffer because of that, but something had to give somewhere. That’s why Bryan Singer had to reduce Anna Paquin’s role in the film. While people originally thought that the character had been cut out all together, the director shared that just the main sequence where she was featured ended on the cutting room floor for the sake of a better flow. Now, Simon Kinberg reveals what that scene entailed for the first time.
In an extensive interview with The Daily Beast, the acclaimed writer/producer addresses a number of topics spanning his involvement in the reboot of ‘Fantastic Four’, ‘Magic: The Gathering’, and of course the various X-Men projects he’s attached to. Naturally, the conversation moved towards the massively successful installment of the Marvel mutant movies currently in theaters and Kinberg revealed what was originally meant to happen with Rogue in the film:
“The Rogue/Anna Paquin scene was by far the biggest cut we made, and that was more my fault than anything. When I was crafting the script, I wanted to create a subplot for old Charles and old Eric — Patrick [Stewart] and Ian [McKellen] — to have a mini-mission together, one final adventure. And that’s what the Rogue sequence was — that they went to retrieve Rogue.
It felt like it didn’t come from the spine of the film, it was an appendage where I just wanted to see the old guys get in the X-Jet for one last ride. It was a narrative detour, and in a film with this much momentum and narrative flow, you can’t afford any detours.”
Despite the movie having a tight storyline that bounced back and forth nicely between the past and future, I wish that this scene was kept in. Like Kinberg, I would have liked to see more of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. I don’t think anyone would complain if those two got more screen time, right? Oh well, I guess we’ll have to wait until the DVD extras to finally see that mini-mission.
However, will we get to see Rogue on the big screen again? After discussing the post-credits scene of ‘Days of Future Past’, Kinberg touched on ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’. He confirmed that “[it] is the plan” for Singer to return to direct and while the movie “will focus primarily on the First Class cast, but it will certainly have some of the original cast involved, too”. Could Paquin’s character be one of the original cast members returning? At this point, no one knows for sure other than Kinberg, Singer, and ‘X2’ writers Dan Harris and Mike Dougherty, who are aiding in the story process for the upcoming X-Men sequel, but it’s certainly a possibility.
What do you think of the deleted scene from ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ featuring Rogue? Would you like to see her come back in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’? Let us know in the comments below.
