Three of Marvel's most famous mutants will be played by new actors in Fox's upcoming "X-Men: Apocalypse." As revealed Thursday evening by director Bryan Singer on Twitter, Alexandra Shipp will play Storm, Sophie Turner will play Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan will play Cyclops.
Writer Simon Kinberg speculated in September of last year that some recasting would likely be necessary for "Apocalypse," given the film's setting in the '80s, a decade after the 1970s sections of last year's "X-Men: Days of Future Past" -- and two full decades before the setting of the first "X-Men" movie in 2000. Since then, fans had been wondering who would fill the shoes of James Marsden (Cyclops), Halle Berry (Storm) and Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) who have been playing the roles for nearly a decade in a half. Marsden even handpicked his successor, "Best of Me" actor Luke Bracey, but we now know exactly who will be filling each actor's former role.
Marsden will be replaced as Cyclops by Tye Sheridan, who earned accolades for his work in 2011's "Tree of Life" and 2012's "Mud."
Sophie Turner steps into the role of Jean Grey and will be best known to genre fans as Sansa Stark from HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Alexandra Shipp rounds out the new additions to the cast as Ororo Munoe, AKA Storm, and in addition to an extensive TV resume including "Ray Donovan" and "Switched at Birth" will next be seen in the NWA biopic "Straight Outta Compton" later this year.
The casting also sheds more light on the larger cast that will be appearing in "X-Men: Apocalypse," which will also mark director Bryan Singer's swan song with Fox's mutant franchise.
"X-Men: Apocalypse" also stars Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Oscar Isaac as the eponymous villain, and is scheduled for release on May 27, 2016.