For the past year, we’ve heard rumors that Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams would play Illyana Rasputina, aka Magik, and Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane in Josh Boone’s X-Men spin-off The New Mutants. Now those rumors have been confirmed!
We came across the first rumor in March 2016. At that time, separate interviewers asked each actress about it, and their responses were nearly identical. Game of Thrones star Williams stated that she couldn't "say much about it all…[but would] absolutely love to be a part of it". Taylor-Joy (Split) said she couldn't "say very much…[but would] love to be a part of it".
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that both actresses had sealed deals to star in 20th Century Fox’s New Mutants. Boone shared a screenshot of the report on his official Instagram account, and Williams retweeted it on her official Twitter account, so there’s no doubt that the report was accurate.
According to the story from the Hollywood Reporter, the director made the decision to cast Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams a year ago. However, he waited to announce the news until the studio officially greenlighted the project and set the release date for April 13, 2018, which happened last month.
The outlet also offered brief descriptions of the big-screen versions of Magik and Wolfsbane. Magik is "a girl who has learned sorcery and uses teleportation discs to travel". Wolfsbane is "…struggling to reconcile her religious beliefs with her power to turn into a wolf".
The report suggested that the studio is making a genuine effort to ensure that the New Mutants cast is ethnically appropriate. They’re searching for a Native American actress to play Danielle Moonstar, aka Mirage, and a South American actor for the role of Roberto da Costa, aka Sunspot.
Last year, it was reported that Nat Wolff was in consideration to play Samuel Zachary Guthrie, aka Cannonball. Cameras are expected to roll for New Mutants in early July, so we should run across more casting updates in the next few weeks.
