‘X-Men’ Adds Christopher Abbott, Adam Driver, Inde Navarette & Maya Boyd; Marvel Studios Pic Set for May 2028 – D23
Christopher Abbott has been tapped to play Charles Xavier aka Professor X in Marvel Studios upcoming X-Men movie. But also Adam Driver beamed in to announce that he’s playing…”Magneto,” said the actor. But then the actor paused to say “No wait, Nathaniel Mayberry.”
The news was announced at Disney’s D23 event in Anaheim tonight. Deadline had previously broken the news of Samara Weaving being tapped to play Emma Frost and Kit Connor on board to play Cyclops and those castings were also confirmed. Inde Navarette was announced as Rogue. And as Storm, it’s Maya Boyd.
Before the X-Men were announced, Marvel boss Kevin Feige introduced Sadie Sink on stage, who plays Jean Gray. “We’re here to talk about the X-Men.”
May 5th, 2028 is the release date for X-Men.
While James Bond has had everyones attention this summer at who could next play 007, the most active casting process has been who will play the new team of Mutants in Marvel Studios pic. Schreier and Marvel execs have been meeting and auditioning actors all summer with a final round of tests taking place after the fourth of July holiday.
Professor X is a telepathic mutant and the founder and leader of the X-Men first appearing in a 1963 comic. The character would famously be played by Patrick Stewart in the X-Men starting in 2000 as well as by James McAvoy in the rebooted origin series in the 2010s. Stewart will actually be reprising the role in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday pic bowing in December.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, Patrick Stewart, 2006, TM & Copyright (c) 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.
This latest development is sure to excite fans of the franchise who have been begging for a new movie since Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox and its library in 2019. The X-Men universe was by far the most popular and profitable Marvel IP that Fox controlled, with seven films and a successful Wolverine spinoff franchise that produced three more.
The project gained momentum last spring when Schreier was tapped to direct the project followed by Beef creator Lee Sung Jim and The Bear co-creator Joanna Calo being tapped to pen the script.
Abbott was most recently seen in The Testament of Ann Lee and can be next seen in Netflix’s highly-anticipated East of Eden series starring Florence Pugh. He is repped by WME and Entertainment 360.
At San Diego Comic-Con last month, Marvel announced that there’s a new Ghost Rider movie starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper for 2028. Also that David Jonsson is playing T’Challa’s grown son in Black Panther 3 set for December 2028.