Before her casting was officially announced, all rumours pointed towards Jessica Chastain taking on the role of Lilandra, Empress of the Shi’ar Empire, in the next chapter of Fox’s X-Men franchise, X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Chastain subsequently denied these rumours, while the first official image revealed her character was “an otherworldly shapeshifter”, leading to speculation that she could in fact be portraying a Skrull – or perhaps even the Skrull Queen.
Well, it seems that may not be the case either, if a new rumour from The Tracking Board’s Jeff Sneider is to be believed, with Sneider claiming that Chastain is actually portraying the character of Claudine Renko, a.k.a. Miss Sinister.
If you’re unfamiliar with the character, Miss Sinister is actually aperfect genetic clone of Nathaniel Essex – a.k.a. Mister Sinister – whose powers include cellular shapeshifting, telepathy, healing, and superhuman strength, reflexes and stamina.
Just yesterday, it was rumoured that Mister Sinister was originally set to feature in a post-credits scene in The New Mutants, portrayed by Jon Hamm, but that plans have now changed and that will no longer be the case as Fox retools the X-Men spinoff by reshooting up to half of the movie.
SEE ALSO: Rumoured details on X-Men: Dark Phoenix reshoots and release date delay
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set for release on February 14th 2019 and sees Simon Kinberg directing a cast that includes franchise veterans Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) alongside new additions Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game) and Lamar Johnson (Kings).
