The mutant known as Nightcrawler will be seen once again on the big screen, but this time it’ll be a younger version of the blue-skinned pointy eared teleporter that fans have come to known. In an Instagram entry last night, director Bryan Singer announced that Kodi Smit-McPhee will be playing the character in the upcoming film ‘X-Men: Apocalypse.’
Smit-McPhee is known for his role as Alexander in last year’s blockbuster film ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,’ but he earned the attention of Hollywood in the role of Owen in the 2010 horror film ‘Let Me In’ (which earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor). Smit-McPhee also starred in the 2013 Shakespearian film ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as Benvolio as well as provided the voice of Norman Babcock in the animated film ‘ParaNorman.’
It’s not surprising that Singer is casting a younger version of Nightcrawler for this film. After all, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is set about 20 years before the time the mutant was last seen in ‘X2: X-Men United.’ Played wonderfully by Alan Cumming, it’s a shame the actor never appeared in any other ‘X-Men’ movies as he did an excellent job in the role.
There was a chance that Cumming would have returned as Nightcrawler in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – Singer actually wrote a scene with him in it – but it was cut due to the director feeling the film was already too mutant heavy. It’s good to see that Singer still has some affinity for the character to add him into ‘Apocalypse.’
Smit-McPhee will be joining the core cast of ‘X-Men: First Class’ as well as the younger versions of mutants already signed which includes Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp as Storm. While Sir Ian McKellen has been rumored to be reprising his role as Mageto, it has been confirmed that Rose Byrne will return as Moira MacTaggert. Sadly, Sir Patrick Stewart won’t be in this film, but he did hint he may appear as Prof. X in the next Wolverine movie. Also rumored is the possibility that Channing Tatum will make his debut as Gambit. As for the titular character, he’ll be played by Oscar Isaac.
With production slated to begin in the spring, there will be more news about this film in the coming months, so keep checking back here as we’ll keep you updated as news comes in!
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ will hit theaters on May 27, 2016.
