After years of waiting, The New Mutants is finally arriving whenever theaters are willing to open up for it. In the meantime, the cast and director were at liberty to discuss the young X-Men origin story at this year’s at-home San Diego Comic-Con.

Writer and director Josh Boone, who has also gained acclaim from The Fault In Our Stars and will soon premiere an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, shared some of his thoughts on the long journey with Screen Rant. He was joined by the cast of New Mutants, including Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, and Henry Zaga.

Josh, it must be agonizing, knowing that you finished this movie a while back. Finally, we're starting to get to talk about it. Is it a little bit more freeing for you, especially now that we're in Comic-Con week?

Josh Boone: Yeah. I'm just so happy we got to go back and finish it properly, the way that we needed to and wanted to, after the year long limbo of the merger. To be able to go back and finish it made me so happy, and I'm really excited to share it with fans. It's the same movie we shot originally. We touched it up just a little bit, having not watched it in a year. But I'm just really happy with it. It's our cut, and we're really happy to share it with everybody. We think it's not much like any other comic book movie.

Blu, Moonstar is one of my favorite characters. We are introduced to the institution through the horrors your character goes through in the trailer. Can you tell me about the impact of Danielle and how she interacts with the rest of the team?

Blu Hunt: Dani is kind of the trigger of the plotline. I mean, she gets there and immediately suspects kind of something wrong. And her interactions with each of the other kids there causes them to become more self-reflective and, in turn, they become suspicious of what's going on there. She kind of triggers everyone to take a look at themselves and the place around them. Without Dani showing up there, I don't think that would have happened. I think they would have been as complacent as they had been, in the ways that they were. So, Dani really wakes everyone up.

Charlie, the characterization of Cannonball seems much more nuanced and maybe more damaged than his comic book counterpart. Can you talk to me about Sam's psyche and how he ends up in the institution?

Charlie Heaton: Yeah, completely. In the beginning, we already see him in the institution, but talking about backstory a lot was really important in developing Sam. You've got two source materials - the comics and the film - and we really wanted to make this story feel very human and very relatable. Looking into the past, how Sam got here is so important for where he begins in the story.

You're right, maybe there is a sense of a much more internal aspect of his character than you get in the comics. But in a trajectory sense, it's like, how does somebody who discovers they have a power feel about that in the beginning? It's not jumping for joy, in a sense, because they're so dangerous. I think he - really, out of all the mutants - believes he belongs there. You're seeing him, through the course of this film, go through this mental change. He kind of almost allows himself to become the person who we want Cannonball to be.

It's a very teenage, early adolescent journey for him. It was great to explore that. In these types of movies, it was really nice to have a core to hold on to. I always kind of knew I wanted to do - not always knew, but I learned where his character was going. It was a joy to do that.

Josh Boone: He was so different from any character you'd played before, especially the physicality of him. So much of it was the body language and the way you carried yourself.

I'm so excited to see Cannonball come to screen. I've been waiting since the 90s.

Josh Boone: This is sort of like a 90s throwback movie. So, I hope you'll like it.

The New Mutants Cast

Alice, Dr. Cecilia Reyes serves a psychological purpose in the story and can be seen as an antagonist. But who is Dr. Reyes?

Alice Braga: It's very hard to not give spoilers or tell a little bit about the journey, but I think she's a woman that is really focused on her career and her passion for what she believes. She's just trying to guide these New Mutants to understand their powers and guide them through this journey into this facility, and to what she believe. She believes in a lot of these signs. She's a doctor; she's not from that world.

I think Josh can speak more about why he and Knate, the other writer, brought her specific character to this world. Because she's not part of this world. But I think she's that kind of character that has a plan and is very focused. She's a very, very scientifically person. She's driven from that side of it.

Josh Boone: We really did kind of inject Dr. Reyes into this demon bear story that we are adapting from Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz's run. We did that for multiple reasons; needing the authority figure and also I needed her powers.

Alice Braga: Pretty cool powers, I gotta say.

Josh Boone: We needed a Nurse Ratched; we needed somebody who could challenge them and be pushing them the whole time. Back and forth conflict, and all that.

Henry, Sunspot is the one New Mutant that becomes an Avenger. All the characters have a tragic past, but possibly none more than Roberto. Can you talk to me about the pain that he carries in his origin story in this film?

Henry Zaga: Absolutely. I think for me, it was really important to understand that what was on the page was a lot of humor, but what was in the comics was a lot of trauma and tragedy. He realizes that he has no one; absolutely no one. The only person that understood him was his girlfriend, and she sadly passed away - which is something sort of linked to his powers. When he realizes something that's living inside of him is causing all these people that he loves to be pushed away and sometimes even died, it added something so serious and somber to my humor. That grounded me and guided my performance so much. It added so many layers, and I was so thankful that they were there.

Josh Boone: As they say, the tears of a clown. You know what I mean?

Henry Zaga: Hundred percent. It's totally like Charlie said, I was so glad that this was in this movie. Of course, we're excited as actors play somewhat heroes - I don't know if you can even call the New Mutants heroes yet, but it was also the full layer of a real person that we all can relate to. All these people in this movie, I'm sure the fans can all relate to at least one or two.

Josh Boone: I'd say the movie ends with heroic acts of friendship that sort of make them be the New Mutants of comic lore.

Based on what we've seen of New Mutants, a lot of attention was paid to the comic source material. What were some of the important elements to get right in this adaptation?

Josh Boone: I got to write this with my very best friend, who I've known since the day I was born. Knate worked on The Stand with me as well, and the next thing we're doing and all that. He's just the best. But we really wanted to tell a story that focused on elements that just hadn't been focused on in other movies, and this lent us so many things that I hadn't seen before. That was sort of what we grabbed onto.

It has these big set pieces and big visual things, but we so much wanted to hang as much as we could on the performances of these young guys; these young actors who brought so much to it.

Obviously, there's a greater MCU out there. If these characters do carry on to the MCU, where would you like to see them kind of pop up?

Charlie Heaton: It's hard, because I think kind of what Josh is saying, this really feels so in its own world. It's really hard to see them stood next to [MCU heroes]. They just don't compare. These are kids doing the best with what they have

Josh Boone: It would be really weird in this movie if Wolverine showed up. They're sort of in their own tonal space, and the aesthetic space is sort of its own thing. So, it'd be weird and interesting to see them kind of with other characters. But to me, if fans love it, we'd certainly love to make another one.

New Mutants Cast

The movie is coming soon, but most theaters are closed right now. Any chance that we could see this on demand?

Josh Boone: Totally. I'd be thrilled with whatever delivery platform allows everybody to see it who wants to see it. But I don't know personally, and they don't tell me. So the plan for us, I think, is theatrical and always has been. Even the way we chose to shoot certain things, even the battle with the bear at the end and all that, will only be better in a theater.

In your own opinion, who do you guys think is the most tragic of the New Mutants?

Charlie Heaton: Probably a good answer for you, Alice.

Josh Boone: I would say for me, it's Magik, but that's just because her backstory is so tied into childhood and things like that.

Alice Braga: Me too. I think I would say her. But I don't know, I care so much about each one of them. When it was reading the script, I was like, "Aww."

Henry Zaga: I also think Dani's power is so abstract. I mean, who brings fear to life? That's so abstract to each person, and that comes from the whole village; that sort of trauma.

Blu Hunt: I don't think you could say, because what's so cool about this movie and all the characters is that everyone's trauma is so different and the tragedies of all of our pasts are so different. I think nowadays it's a competition, almost. Everyone's picking apart everybody's past online and all this stuff, but we all go through a lot of really hard things. I don't think you can really compare.

I think it's about coming together through all of the really hard things - and these characters really represent that. They've all gone through really horrible things done to them, and that they've done to other people. I think at first they're very competitive about that, until they realize there's no point to be. There's no need to.

But, you know, I think Dani has the most tragic past.

Can you talk to me about the pros and cons of each of your powers?

Henry Zaga: I mean, if you can't make out with anyone without setting them on fire, I think...

Josh Boone: We'll just say Sunspot's gonna have a very active fantasy life, and that's about it.

Josh, if there is a sequel, I would like to see my boy Cypher in there somewhere.

Josh Boone: Actually, the original scripts for this had Warlock in it, and we had to take Warlock out to be able to make the movie because he was so expensive. But we always had lined up for Cypher, Karma, and Warlock.

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