Last week the actors who will play the young versions of Jean Grey, Storm and Cyclops were announced for X-Men: Apocalypse, and now it has been confirmed that another character will be returning to the franchise, with Rose Byrne, who played Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: First Class, set to return for the latest movie.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Simon Kinberg confirmed that Byrne will be back in the role for X-Men: Apocalypse: “She’s a significant character in the movie. We ended First Class with Charles having wiped portions of her memory of her experience with the X-Men. They are, essentially, strangers to her when she meets them. It’s certainly a rich relationship that we started to dig into in First Class, and would like to mine more in this one.”
Kinberg also states that the latest film will be tie up existing character arcs: “This movie is the completion of the first arcs of Charles, Eric, Raven, and Hank, who are essentially our main characters. They’re such young actors and young characters, so there’s a lot more story to tell. But as a first phase of their lives, there is this feeling of closure by the end of the movie.”
With X-Men: Apocalypse set in the 1980s, Kinberg talked a bit about the nostalgia of growing up in that period. “That’s the era that I grew up in, the music, the fashion, the videogames: We really want to integrate all of that in the movie, and have it infuse the movie with a different vibe.” He was also asked about Dazzler appearing in the film who many would deem appropriate for the 80s setting. “Could happen. [Laughing] We’re certainly looking at mutants that would fit into the period.”
X-Men: Apocalypse is set for release on May 19th, 2016 and will be directed by Bryan Singer with James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Evan Peters (Quicksilver) and Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert) set to star alongside Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Apocalypse, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan (Mud) as Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp (House of Anubis) as Storm.