Yesterday we were able to share the fantastic news that Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy have joined the cast of ‘New Mutants‘ and now we have the sad job at telling you that prior casting and cameo rumors will need to be debunked. One of the first names which popped up in association with the film was that Nat Wolff (‘The Fault in Our Stars,”Paper Towns’) would be playing Cannonball. Sadly, this one isn’t going to be happening. Outside of that, we all know that the formation of the ‘New Mutants’ came under the personal guiding hand of Professor Charles Xavier which made it seem like a sure thing that James McAvoy would be reprising his role for the film.
It looks like that isn’t happening either.
The news came directly from The Hollywood Reporter writer Borys Kit who was the one to break the news on Williams and Taylor-Joy joining the cast and he shared the news on twitter:
On NEW MUTANTS: other rumored castings – James McAvoy as Prof X – not true. He is not in movie, per sources.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 11, 2017
On #NewMutants: other rumored casting – Nat Wolff as Canonball – not happening either.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 11, 2017
This doesn’t close the doors to cameos as we know many of the ‘New Mutants’ ended up in ‘X-Force’ and also that Taylor-Joy is playing Magik who is sister to Colossus. That being said, it will be interesting to see how they show the team being founded or trained without Xavier being the guiding hand.
On the other hand, even though last year producer Simon Kinberg stated a year ago that “Right now, as the movie exists, Professor X would be a part of a New Mutants movie” he never did say that it would be McAvoy playing the part. The actor’s contract was initially done with ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ and while it is likely that he’ll be back for ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ there is no guarantee they got him to sign the dotted line for a cameo here.
It almost makes you wonder if we’ll be getting a recast Professor X to play the part.
Are you sad to hear that either Wolff or McAvoy won’t be joining the cast? Do you feel that the ‘New Mutants’ will feel right without being so tightly tied to the X-Men? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!