Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past promises to bring together multiple generations of the mutant superhero team, with the worlds of the original X-Men trilogy and Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class colliding, but today it has been sadly announced that one fan-favorite character has been axed from the final cut of the film. During a recently interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director revealed that Anna Paquin, who plays Rogue in the cinematic X-Men series, is no longer going to appear in next summer's blockbuster.
The detail was uncovered when Singer explained how a rescue sequence that was shot in the beginning of production on the movie ended up needing to get cut. The scene features Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Rogue (Anna Paquin), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), but Singer says that it ultimately affected the pacing of the film negatively. The good news, however, is that we will be able to see it someday. Explained the filmmaker,
"Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous. It’s a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she’s in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won’t appear in it."
I must say that this is kind of a bummer. The last time we saw Rogue, in X-Men: The Last Stand, she had received the mutant "cure" and was going on to try and live a normal life. Thanks to the last shot of Magneto in the movie we know that the "cure" ended up being temporary, but what then what happened to Rogue? We won't get an answer to that question until the movie comes out on home video some time next fall, and it sounds like they won't be getting too deep into the material. Maybe she will play a crucial role in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse?
X-Men: Days of Future Past may not include Paquin, but it does have a full roster of familiar faces. From the original trilogy we will once again get to see Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and Daniel Cudmore,while returning First Class members include James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult. Joining the franchise in new roles will be Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing. You can watch the teaser trailer for the movie below, and catch the full thing in theaters on May 23, 2014.
