Josh Boone’s The New Mutants has been described as a “standalone spinoff”, but we should have known they couldn’t resist James McAvoy’s Professor X and his very groovy mutation. McAvoy and new mutant Anya Taylor-Joy are currently promoting a different movie in which they’re co-staring, Split, when the topic turned to the X-Men.
Taylor-Joy, who will be playing Magik, told Coming Soon a little more than she was probably supposed to when she said, “I mean, I think James is already a part of it, isn’t he?” It had only been a rumor that McAvoy would be involved, but this seems to confirm it, and McAvoy himself fueled the rumor in an interview with Fandango’s Erik Davis, in which he praises Logan and teases a return as Professor X:
Watch: James McAvoy would love to do more X-MEN movies; calls LOGAN "brilliant" and says he's a bit jealous he couldn't be in it. #xmen pic.twitter.com/6b9Njro9LE
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) January 5, 2017
“If they offer me a really good part, I’m in! If it’s not a really good part… I’ll think about it. [laughs] But I love playing Charles, and I’ve always had pretty interesting things to do as Charles. So, if that continues, then, yeah of course I’d love to take part.”
[When asked about the released Logan footage] “It’s brilliant, I’m jealous that I’m not old enough to play Charles like that yet! But what a great idea, what a brilliant idea.”
It seems almost inevitable that Fox will bring McAvoy back to assemble all the mutants. In addition to Taylor-Joy, he’d be joining co-stars Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane, Nat Wolff as Cannonball, Alexandra Shipp returning as Storm, Adan Canto possibly returning as Sunspot, and Booboo Stewart possibly returning as Warpath. The rumored line-up likely includes Demon Bear and Cheyenne/Mirage as well.
But really, we’ll be there for the exquisite acting…
(Via Coming Soon, Bleeding Cool, Screen Rant, and Erik Davis)
