During last year's press junket for Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game, Jessica Chastain opened up to CinemaBlend and explained that Simon Kinberg's X-Men: Dark Phoenix will do some great things for its female characters. Keeping that in mind, we recently sat down with X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse star Rose Byrne during the junket for Peter Rabbit to see if CIA agent Moira MacTaggert would be among those badass women. Alas, Byrne revealed that we shouldn't get our hopes up about seeing Moira return in Dark Phoenix, saying:
Unfortunately, Moira is not showing up. I wish she was. I had such fun on X-Men: Apocalypse. I love that cast. It is a really fun, what do you call it? Superhero film... ensemble exactly. I can't wait to see what [Jessica Chastain] does, cause I'm such a fan.
So while Moira MacTaggert played an integral role in the plots of X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse, it sounds like she will be sitting things out when the powers of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) start to go haywire. It's arguably somewhat surprising to learn this, as the return of her memory at the end of X-Men: First Class could've easily allowed her to segue back into action as an ally of the X-Men team and full-time member of the X-Men franchise.
Then again, there are definitely arguments to be made for the case that it's better for her not to return. By the time we were reintroduced to Moira in X-Men: Apocalypse (she had sat out in X-Men: Days of Future Past), the character had already gone on to a new stage in her life, complete with a family to call her own. For her to suddenly drop that and become a new member of the X-Men supporting cast might not line up with her characterization.
Besides, there are still plenty of badass female character waiting to take center stage in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Jean Grey is obviously the star of the show, but Storm (Alexandra Shipp) Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jessica Chastain's mysterious Smith (who is definitely not Lilandra) are all (among others) characters that we can't wait to see as well.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Moira won't receive a wink, nod or mention during the events of X-Men: Dark Phoenix. All it really tells us is that Moira won't be joining the ensemble on this adventure. Charles' long-dormant romance (although at this point, it's really little more than a crush) has informed much of his characterization since James McAvoy stepped into the role in X-Men: First Class, so for someone like Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) or Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to mention her in passing would make a certain degree of sense.
Simon Kinberg's X-Men: Dark Phoenix will hit theaters later this year on November 2. As for Rose Byrne, you can catch her in Will Gluck's Peter Rabbit this weekend starting February 9.
