We're still waiting for an official cast announcement for Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot (SDCC seems likely), but there have been a lot of rumors doing the rounds over the past few months. Casting is now believed to be underway, however, and we're now hearing that a name first mentioned over a year ago could still be on the studio's radar.
According to scooper MTTSH, Hunter Schafer is "still being considered" for the role of Raven Darkhölme, aka Mystique, in the upcoming movie.
Whether this means Schafer is actually in talks for the part is not clear.
Schafer has become a highly sought-after talent since her breakout role in Euphoria, and has gone on to appear in the likes of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Cuckoo.
Mystique was played by Rebecca Romain in the 20th Century Fox franchise, and Jennifer Lawrence from X-Men: First Class on. The character was originally introduced as a villain, but was given a lot more screen time as a member of the team in the later movies.
Rumor has it that the core team will consist of the OG mutant heroes from the comics (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman), which means there's a good chance Mystique will once again take on an antagonistic role, possibly alongside her adoptive daughter, Rogue.
During a recent episode of The Hot Mic, Jeff Sneider mentioned that Marvel is looking at Odessa A'Zion (I Love LA) to play Rogue and Peter Claffey (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) to take on the role of Beast.
Director Jake Schreier recently revealed that his Thunderbolts* scribes Sonny Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Joanna Calo (The Bear) had come aboard the MCU reboot to write a new draft of Michael Lesslie's script, and the former confirmed his involvement while also revealing two of his favorite characters earlier this week.
"Well, it's X-Men. It's something I grew up with. I have fond memories of my father and me waking up on Saturday mornings to watch the X-Men cartoon. I read the comics," said Sung Jin during an interview with Variety. "So when he comes calling about that, no matter how much you've got going on."
"I love Gambit. I also love a lot of the side characters. I love Jubilee. Everyone goes for Cyclops and Wolverine, but for me growing up, I always loved the supporting members," he added.
While this shouldn't be taken as any kind of confirmation that Gambit or Jubilee will be part of the rebooted team, it could suggest that there will be more of a focus on certain characters that have been underutilised in the past.
Schreier was even more tight-lipped, declining to even mention his favourite mutants for fear of giving something away.
"I’ve worked with Sonny [Lee] and Joanna on so many things,” he said. “Anytime you can work with people that you care so deeply about and who are so talented at their craft, and you have made something together where you have a shorthand, if you can keep going with that, it always seems like a good thing to do.”