Marvel Studios announced most of the main cast (there are more to come) for the long-awaited X-Men reboot during D23 on Friday, and arguably the biggest surprise was the news that Inde Navarrette will play Rogue.
The Obsession breakout had previously revealed that she had met with director Jake Schreier, but threw fans off the scent by mentioning Mystique as the character she was most interested in playing.
This casting seems to have been met with a bit of a mixed response, as some fans feel that Navarrette maybe isn't an ideal pick for the popular mutant hero, who gained her ability to fly and super-strength by absorbing Carol Danvers' (then known as Ms. Marvel) powers in the comics.
One person who is very much on board with Inde's casting is Lenore Zann, who has voiced Rogue in animated form since the original X-Men: The Animated Series.
"Well, hey there, y'all," Zann said in Rogue's unmistakable Southern accent during a video message. "This here is Lenore Zann, a.k.a. Rogue of the X-Men, coming to you today from beautiful Dublin, Ireland. I just want to give a shoutout to Inde Navarrette, the actress who was just named to play Rogue in the upcoming Marvel movie of the X-Men.
I can't wait to meetcha, sugar! I will be coming back to North America in the next month, so I look forward to that day. Look forward to meetin’ ya, Sugah! Best of luck. Hugs and High Fives (gloves on of course!)."
The rest of the officially announced cast are: Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Maya Boyd as Storm.
We are expecting a few more additions (Beast and Magneto, at the very least), but it's looking like the rumor that the core team will consist of the OG comic book crew (Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Ice-Man, and Angel) may not have been accurate.
Schreier said the following in a post-event interview with GMA.
“Digging into those comics like the Chris Claremont run and the newer Jonathan Hickman stuff. There are so many stories that are still untold.”
Sonny Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Joanna Calo (The Bear) recently came aboard to write a new draft of Michael Lesslie's script.
Kevin Feige teased Marvel's plans for the X-Men shortly after SDCC.
"Acquiring the X-Men rights isn't just about... for example, Wolverine is an outstanding character, and we were able to team him up with Deadpool, which is great. But the X-Men are far more than just Wolverine, far more than the original team; fundamentally, it's a universe, a multi-stage saga. Much of that is what we're working towards."
"We’re constantly changing, constantly evolving, but having some guidance helps us act more purposefully, especially with X-Men—it’s already had 10 movies, some very, very good, some I think haven’t lived up to expectations—how do we plan the 'mutant saga' in a very grand way?"
"That being said, we have many more characters to explore in the future—the schedule is already booked until 2042, especially the X-Men," Feige added. "The X-Men have many unexplored characters from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China, which we're very eager to explore. That's why I'm excited about the X-Men: we can show the world different types of heroes."