Ahead of the film's spring 2018 release, the cast of Josh Boone's New Mutants has arrived for filming in Boston. Stars Henry Zaga, Maisie Williams, and Charlie Heaton have been spotted in the Massachusetts capital with filming expected to start any day.

The young stars will be playing Xavier's budding mutants and the characters of Sunspot, Wolfsbane, and Cannonball respectively. Also tagged, but not seen, is Blu Hunt, who will be playing Danielle "Dani" Moonstar. Production is already underway on Fox's X-Men spin-off, and it looks like the stars have been getting to know each other during some Fourth of July celebrations.

Taking to Instagram, Zaga shared the snap of him and his co-stars, who all seemed to be embracing their new superhero status:

The 13 Reasons Why star was smiling alongside Game of Thrones actress Williams, and Stranger Things actor Heaton, all ushering in a younger era of the X-Men than we might be used to since their Fox debut in 2000.

Not pictured are Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik, or latest addition Alice Braga, who has replaced a rumored Rosario Dawson as Dr. Cecilia Reyes. The plot of New Mutants is still tightly under wraps, but Boone looks to be adapting the Demon Bear saga which started back in 1983. We also know that the film's roots will be more set in the horror genre than previous X-Men installments, which have been purely fixed to the superhero/action category.

The brainchild of Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, New Mutants was the first X-Men spin-off and premiered in 1982. After believing his older recruits were dead, Charles Xavier was forced to bring in new blood to tackle the various mutants and monsters that we face in the world of comic books. Boone's adaptation will be a coming of age story as the "new" mutants come to terms with their own powers and those around them. At least it looks like the cast is getting on better than their comic book counterparts.

We are also promised a more intimate adventure than the sprawling epics akin to X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse, so we will have to see whether this is the right move having a smaller team of heroes. Following on from the blockbusting success of Logan and Deadpool, all eyes are on New Mutants and whether it can outshine its main X-Men series equivalent. There may be some substantial talent on board, but with Deadpool 2 also scheduled for next year, can the younger faction of X-Men really compete with the old dogs when New Mutants hits cinemas?

Next: X-Men Movie Producer Talks Franchise Challenges & Bold Future

Source: Henry Zaga