UPDATE: The mystery role is solved. Asa Germann is playing Angel, a month after THR floated that he was awarded a different part.
UPDATE: At D23, Marvel announced the X-Men cast and 2028 movie, including that Adam Driver is playing Nathaniel Milbury who is aka Mister Sinister. Our full breakdown of Driver’s Milbury and the Sinister comic history is here, and release date, full cast, and every rumor are tracked in our X-Men guide.
One week out from D23, The Hollywood Reporter’s newsletter just emptied its notebook on Marvel’s X-Men casting, which includes yet another rumored villain for Adam Driver with Sebastian Shaw.
Some rumors got validated, one got killed, and one tease lands squarely on a theory we have been tracking since June.
THR describes Samara Weaving‘s Emma Frost and Kit Connor‘s Cyclops as having a legitimate foothold on the call sheet, which backs Deadline’s reporting from the past week.
The outlet adds that, per the rumors it is hearing, Marvel could stage a major reveal at next week’s D23. That makes three trades now circling August 14.
The Wrong Asa
An Asa Butterfield X-Men rumor made the rounds this week. We passed on it for obvious reasons, and per THR, good thing: the outlet flatly calls it “way off base.”
But there is a real Asa in this story.
THR reports that Asa Germann, of Gen V and Scream 7, did test for Cyclops. He lost the visor to Connor, but THR raises the possibility Germann was awarded a different role instead. Marvel is not responding.
Update: That played out. Germann is Angel.
Cooper Hoffman was really up to play Cyclops?
Per THR, there was strong interest in Cooper Hoffman to play Cyclops, with the site claiming “scheduling” killed the idea early on.
When Connor landed Cyclops, we noted that all four names in our casting rumor tracker whiffed on the role.
Color us skeptical. “Scheduling” is Hollywood’s favorite no-fault divorce, the polite word everyone agrees on when a thing simply did not happen.
Marvel spent months reading and testing seemingly every similarly aged actor in town for this movie. Being in the room is not the same as being close, and this room was crowded.
There is also the fit problem. Scott Summers is the ramrod boy scout, the buttoned-up field captain who holds the line while everyone else improvises.
Hoffman’s whole screen appeal runs the other way, loose and shaggy and hangdog. Talented actor, wrong part, and we doubt Marvel ever seriously thought otherwise.
Professor X Comes Down To Abbott Or A Dark Horse
The loud Professor X rumor of late has been Bill Skarsgard, and THR treats it with visible side-eye, needling the quarters that seem so certain about their claims.
What THR reports as fact: Tony nominee Christopher Abbott and Task star Tom Pelphrey both tested for the role, and Pelphrey did not get it.
That leaves Abbott, or a dark horse nobody has named.
Given that Frost and Cyclops both went to actors no scooper floated, we would not bet against the dark horse. Marvel is not responding on this one either.
Update: It’s claimed Abbott has landed the role of Professor X.
Magneto, Then Sinister, Now Shaw?
Then there is Adam Driver, and this is the part that got our attention.
Quick history: in recent weeks Driver was rumored as the reboot’s villain, with the role claimed to be Magneto. Three days later, the same rumor was walked back to Mister Sinister. Driver has also been attached to Mister Fantastic and even Doctor Doom.
Now THR addresses the Driver chatter with a wink: “Magneto? Pshaw. Or more like, Sebastian (p)Shaw?”
Count the roles: Magneto, Sinister, and now Shaw make three villains attached to one actor inside a month. Either the name is just sticky, or somebody knows Driver is circling something and nobody outside the room knows what.
Here is why the Shaw version fits.
Marvel cast the White Queen first and ran its deepest search doing it. A Wagner Moura Shaw rumor has sat in our tracker since June. Emma Frost plus Sebastian Shaw is not a random pairing, it is the Hellfire Club. If THR’s pun is pointing anywhere real, the villain architecture of this reboot is the one we flagged two months ago.
One Week Out
THR closes with all eyes on D23, and so do we. The Disney Entertainment Showcase hits the Honda Center next Friday, August 14.
The board as it stands: Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey is already on screens, Frost and Cyclops are reported, Germann may be holding a mystery role, Professor X is down to Abbott or a wild card, and the biggest villain question now has three names for one actor.
