Jennifer Lawrence may appear once again as Mystique in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. After the poor reviews but healthy box office take for X-Men: The Last Stand, 20th Century Fox decided to soft reboot the franchise by setting it in the '60s with an all new cast. Up and coming actors like Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence were cast in three picture deals to play younger versions of Magneto, Professor X, Beast, and Mystique.
With the completion of X-Men: Apocalypse those four actors have fulfilled their contractual obligation to the franchise. However, it is looking more and more likely that at least Michael Fassbender will be returning for the fourth outing of X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, X-Men producer Hutch Parker was asked if Lawrence would be joining Fassbender in the next installment. Here's what he told the outlet:
I'd rather not confirm any of those officially, but yes, the current story that we're working on has that group involved as well as some of the younger characters that we introduced last time.
While that seems to be a far cry from confirming that both Lawrence and Fassbender would be in the film, CinemaBlend does say the producer strongly hinted it to be the case. With Fassbender all but certain and Jennifer Lawrence likely, that opens the door to James McAvoy as well. The trio reportedly made a pact when X-Men: Apocalypse wrapped saying that either all three of them would return — or none of them would.
It isn't just those three characters, along with Sophie Turner's Jean Grey and the new X-Men that were introduced in Apocalypse, that are returning but there may be some previously-introduced characters as well. Because of her role in the Dark Phoenix saga in the original comics, it has been rumored that Rogue (previously portrayed by Anna Paquin) may be recast for Dark Phoenix. CinemaBlend asked whether Rogue would also be a part of the film, to which Hutch replied:
We're all sorting out exactly which mutants will be part of it, and which ones won't. It is a bit more expansive than... obviously Logan was a bit more intimate of a story. This one's a bit more expansive, and you know the comics, so you know how and why. We're still kind of sorting that through.
That seems to be another non-confirmation, but it also isn't a hard no. It appears the plan is for X-Men: Dark Phoenix will feature another decade time-jump to the '90s, bringing the franchise very close to the original X-Men film in the process. If Rogue is a part of Dark Phoenix then she should still be a child, as the character was only 17 during the events of the first movie (which took place in the 2000s).
Then again, other X-Men character's ages have been nudged around for plot purposes in the past, so that could happen for Rogue too. Jean Grey appeared as a child in a flashback for X-Men: The Last Stand, but a teenager in X-Men: Apocalypse (which takes place a few years before The Last Stand). In all likelihood, it appears that along with Magneto and Mystique, a new actress may play Rogue in X-Men: Dark Phoenix (assuming the character shows up at all).
NEXT: Can the X-Men Movies Finally Do the Dark Phoenix Story Justice?
Source: CinemaBlend