We’ve been getting bits and pieces of the puzzle that is X-Men: Apocalypse recently, and each bit of news has been generating excitement. Just recently, the official casting of young Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm was announced, and now we have news of a returning cast member who we weren’t sure we’d see in the newest film. The writer of the latest X-Men film confirms that Rose Byrne will be returning as Moira MacTaggert, the CIA agent and Charles Xavier’s love interest from X-Men: First Class.
We weren’t sure Rose Byrne would be returning, mostly because Professor X wiped her memory at the close of the last film. But, Simon Kingerb, writer of X-Men: Apocalypse confirms that she will indeed appear in the new film, and she will be a significant character to the plot. He told Entertainment Weekly:
"She’s a significant character in the movie. We ended First Class with Charles having wiped portions of her memory of her experience with the X-Men. They are, essentially, strangers to her when she meets them."
Byrne’s character, Moira MacTaggert was an essential character in First Class. Yes, she played the main love interest of James McAvoy’s Professor X, but as a CIA agent she was key in providing Xavier with the tools he needed to find and protect mutants. Kinberg also teased that this film will dive deeper into Xavier and Moira’s relationship, which will be an interesting dynamic to explore, considering Moira has forgotten most, if not all of what she knows of Xavier and the other mutants.
The film, which will further the character arcs of our original team we met in First Class including the above mentioned as well as Magneto played by Michael Fassbender, Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence, and Dr. Hank McCoy (aka Beast) played by Nicholas Hoult will take place in the 1980s. Kinberg details that these key characters are going to be the center of the story, and that this film is going to mark an end to a particular phase of their lives.
"This movie is the completion of the first arcs of Charles, Eric, Raven, and Hank, who are essentially our main characters. They’re such young actors and young characters, so there’s a lot more story to tell. But as a first phase of their lives, there is this feeling of closure by the end of the movie."
What type of closure will this mean in the relationship of Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert? Will he expose his powers to her, once again, or leave her in the dark? We’ll have to wait and see. X-Men: Apocalypse will finally introduce a few other original team members, too, including Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm. The three newbies will be a bit younger than our familiar protagonists, and will be portrayed by young-and-upcoming actors, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner and Alexandra Shipp. Oscar Isaac will be taking on the titular role of the ancient mutant villain, Apocalypse.
X-Men: Apocalypse is set to hit theaters May 27, 2016.
