Inde Navarrette has been Rogue for barely a day, and she already has the blessing of the woman who has voiced the character since 1992.
Lenore Zann, Rogue in X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ’97, and Marvel Rivals, posted a video message from Dublin on Saturday congratulating Navarrette on Friday’s D23 casting reveal. Gloves on, of course.
“Can’t Wait To Meet You, Sugah”
“Congrats from Dublin @indinavarette on nabbin’ the role of #Rogue in @MarvelStudios upcomin’ X-men movie!!” Zann wrote. “Can’t wait to see what you bring to the role! Look forward to meetin’ ya, Sugah! Best of luck. Hugs and High Fives (gloves on of course!)”
She signed off as “Lenore Zann aka Rogue,” flexed bicep and kiss emojis included.
The 34-second clip, shot on the Dublin waterfront, is pure Rogue.
“Well, hey there y’all. This here is Lenore Zann, aka Rogue of the X-Men, coming to you today from beautiful Dublin, Ireland,” she says. “I just want to give a shout out to Inde Navarrette, the actress who was just named to play Rogue in the upcoming Marvel movie of the X-Men.”
“I can’t wait to meet you, Sugah. And I will be coming back to North America in the next month, so I look forward to that day,” Zann continues. “Meanwhile, y’all, you have a great day and spread some sugar around, will ya?”
Zann was a guest at Dublin Comic Con last weekend alongside her X-Men ’97 castmate Alison Sealy-Smith, the voice of Storm. The post cleared a thousand likes inside its first hour.
Why Zann’s Blessing Matters
For most of the audience buying a ticket in May 2028, Zann’s drawl is simply what Rogue sounds like.
She originated the voice in 1992, brought it back for X-Men ’97 in 2024 after a twelve-year detour into Canadian politics, and voiced Rogue again for her Marvel Rivals debut late last year.
She is also coming off the biggest Rogue story ever put on screen. X-Men ’97 season 2 wrapped its nine-episode run on Disney+ on August 12 with Rogue carrying the finale, two days before Marvel named her live-action counterpart.
She Already Told The Next Rogue What To Do
The endorsement was not a given. Zann has been openly critical of what Fox did with the character across Anna Paquin’s four films.
Asked at Tampa Bay Comic Convention last summer what advice she had for the next live-action Rogue, Zann’s first answer, per Collider, was to “watch X-Men: The Animated Series, then X-Men ’97.”
She said Fox skewed the character younger, closer to Jubilee, to chase a teen audience, and she has said flatly that those changes weakened Rogue.
She also admitted, by her own account selfishly, that her dream scenario was a CGI Rogue with her own voice.
Marvel went with a 25-year-old Obsession breakout instead, and Zann’s response was to pull out her phone and welcome her to the family.
The Rogue Navarrette Inherits
Navarrette is the fastest riser on the roster: sixth lead on a canceled CW show six months ago, an X-Man today on the strength of Curry Barker’s $750,000 horror phenomenon.
Our full Navarrette breakdown covers the Obsession run and the Anna Paquin problem she is being asked to fix.
She spent her press tour campaigning for Mystique and got Mystique’s adoptive daughter instead. Now the character’s definitive voice has handed her the homework: two animated series and a drawl worth studying.
Jake Schreier directs, cameras roll next year, and X-Men opens May 5, 2028.
Watch the full D23 panel here, and meet the rest of the team: Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, Kit Connor’s Cyclops, Christopher Abbott’s Professor X, Samara Weaving’s Emma Frost, Maya Boyd’s Storm, and Adam Driver’s Nathaniel Milbury. Everything else on the movie lives in our X-Men guide.
