Next year is going to be big for the X-Men movie franchise with three movies on the way. The first one out the gate in 2018 is New Mutants, and for more than a year, there have been numerous rumors and reports about who will comprise the main cast. Well, with production beginning in just a few months, 20th Century Fox has officially announced that Split's Anya Taylor-Joy and Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams will be two of the leading actresses.
Anya Taylor-Joy will play Magik in New Mutants, while Maisie Williams has been cast as Wolfsbane. It was rumored last year that these two had been eyed for those roles, but the reason the castings weren't confirmed until just now was because director Josh Boone wasn't able to "pull the trigger on them" until the movie was greenlit until earlier this year. Taylor-Joy and Williams are the only two performers officially attached to New Mutants, but according to THR, the studio is taking careful steps to find "ethnically appropriate" actors to play Moonstar and Sunspot. Cannonball will also be one of the starring heroes, and an alien named Warlock will appear. Taylor-Joy also mentioned in January that James McAvoy will reprise Professor Charles Xavier, but according to THR writer Borys Kit, Professor X is not appearing in the movie.
Besides playing Casey Cooke in Split (a role she'll reprise in Glass), Anya Taylor-Joy is best known for her appearances in The Witch and the TV series Atlantis. Her character, Magik, seen above, was introduced in 1975, and is the sister of longtime X-Men member Colossus, who was recently seen in Deadpool. Magik's mutation allowed her to teleport through time and space, but she is also a skilled sorceress, and she wields the Soulsword in battle.
Maisie Williams is instantly recognizable to most as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, but she also had a recurring role in Doctor Who Season 9 and also starred in the Netflix movie iBoy. Her character, Wolfsbane, debuted in 1982, and like Magik, she was one of the original New Mutants in the comics. As the name implies and you can see above, she is able to transform into a werewolf-like creature or full wolf at will. Along with the enhanced animalistic abilities that come with those forms, she also retains her natural intelligence.
No plot details about the New Mutants movie have been revealed yet, and since James McAvoy won't be back as Professor X, it's unclear when this team of mutant superheroes will be operating in the X-Men timeline. Director Josh Boone's past include Stuck in Love and The Fault of Our Stars, and he co-wrote the script with Knate Gwaltney.
New Mutants hits theaters on April 13, 2018.
