UPDATE: Marvel Studios made the official X-Men cast announcement at D23 along with a new 2028 X-Men movie. Our full profile of Sink’s road from Stranger Things to leading the X-Men is here, and release date, full cast, and every rumor are tracked in our X-Men guide.
Note: Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day follow.
After more than a year of code names and dodged questions, Sadie Sink is finally talking.
In her first interview since Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened, the actress spoke with Variety about playing Jean Grey, and two answers matter most for what comes next. Jean returns in The X-Men, and Sink will not say how big her Marvel deal is.
“Yes, She Will”
Asked directly about Jean joining the X-Men, Sink confirmed it flat out: “Yes, she will.”
She added that conversations with director Jake Schreier are already happening and described feeling lucky that Jean arrives with a backstory already on screen.
Her pitch for the franchise lines up with what Kevin Feige said about Brand New Day leading into X-Men: the mutants work because they are flawed, and their powers make their lives harder, not easier.
Then came the contract question. Asked whether her deal runs two movies or ten, Sink demurred: “I can’t really say.”
Read that how you want, but studios do not build a year of secrecy and a stealth franchise launch around a one-off.
The Rumors Knew Before She Did
Sink also admitted she knew nothing about Jean Grey before Marvel called.
She had never seen an X-Men movie. The only thing she knew about the character was the years of online rumors casting her in the role.
So the internet fan-cast Sadie Sink into a role she had never heard of, and then Marvel agreed.
Per Sink, Feige and Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito called her, set up a meeting, and walked her through the character and her role in the Spider-Man film.
She did her research and called the decision “a no-brainer.”
The casting process is interesting, as Jean Grey came as a call and an offer. Meanwhile, Emma Frost and Cyclops are reported to have gone through many meetings and screen tests after July 4th.
Marvel knew who its Jean was years before it knew anything else.
20 Days, No Script, A Code Name
Sink also says she showed up to the London set without having read a full script, and her character went by a code name in the pages.
It was not “Denim Red,” despite Jacob Batalon’s joke, though Sink admits she cannot remember what it actually was and that Batalon’s version is cooler.
She shot only around 20 days on the film, with most of her work done in preproduction. And the possession scenes came from a single reference day: Sink and Tom Holland filmed her performing every mind-controlled line in the movie, and that footage went out to the rest of the cast to study. She singled out Zendaya as the one who channeled her the closest.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton asked Marvel to include Jean, it was not a studio mandate, and Sink says his direction from the start framed her as a young girl in pain rather than a superhero movie villain.
That extended to the film’s biggest gut punch.
The V-Max reveal, the moment the acronym turns out to mean nothing and Jean’s search for her sister Sara ends in that lab, originally had dialogue spelling it out.
On the day, it was cut down to a single look, which Sink says was the right call, since that anger over it all being for nothing is what unleashes her.
Steve Lacy Set Her Free
And what about the man who blew the whole secret on the red carpet? Sink is not mad.
Reacting to Steve Lacy naming Jean at the premiere, she laughed that the moment was amazing and that he “kind of set me free,” adding she is a big fan.
She had already told a trusted few, including the Duffer Brothers, who told her Jean was the best character and the right fit. Everyone else found out with the rest of us, either from Lacy or from the opening day reveal.
The Ensemble Assembles Before D23
Sink becomes the third actress to play Jean Grey on film, following Famke Janssen in the Fox originals and Sophie Turner in the 2010s prequels.
She steps into the role, following the biggest opening in box office history, with Brand New Day clearing $1.15 billion worldwide in its first seven days.
As for the ending, do not ask her whether Jean is headed to Westchester. She says she genuinely does not know where Jean is going.
Variety also asked about her reported castmates, Samara Weaving and Kit Connor. Sink has not met either yet, but hopes to soon, saying she is “super, super pumped” about the ensemble. Full X-Men reboot casting rumors here.
She may not have to wait long for introductions. The Disney Entertainment Showcase hits D23 next Friday, August 14, where the expectation remains that Marvel could make its mutants official. The first X-Man is already doing press. The rest may get their names called in a week.
