As comic book movie fans wait for the long-awaited release of The New Mutants, director John Boone confirmed Fox originally planned it as an X-Men: Apocalypse continuation that would've featured Professor Charles Xavier.
Matthew Vaughn famously rebooted the X-Men franchise with the '60s-set X-Men: First Class. This was followed by X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix moving through the decades to visit the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Although producer Karen Rosenfelt previously explained The New Mutants' contemporary setting, Boone toyed with the idea of keeping an '80s setting.
Back in 2017, Screen Rant visited the set of the movie where Boone explained how he'd imagined New Mutants in an '80s setting as a sort of Apocalypse sequel. As well as confirming Fox allowed him to keep the '80s tone, he added that his movie was going to forge ahead "with Professor X in it." There are no further details on what this was going to entail or how the story evolved into the version due for release in April.
When filming first started, actor Alice Braga said there were no reshoots planned, so it's unclear when the studio had a change of heart over Boone's vision. There were rumors Fox was worried about The New Mutants overlapping too much with previous X-Men movies, which might explain why Boone was forced to abandon his plans and Xavier's cameo.
However, Boone's Apocalypse connection ties into previous reports that Jon Hamm filmed a secret New Mutants role as Mr. Sinister. The ending of Apocalypse teased the arrival of the legendary X-Men villain, however, the plot thread was forgotten by the time last year's X-Men: Dark Phoenix rolled around. While Antonio Banderas is still rumored to have a top-secret role in The New Mutants, fans will have to wait and see how much Boone's finished product references the X-Men movies that have come before it.
Directed and co-written by Josh Boone, The New Mutants stars Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage and Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes. The film arrives in theaters April 3.