The Mutant Saga casting furnace is officially white-hot. Following the news that the creative team behind The Bear is handling the script, industry insider Jeff “The In” Sneider dropped a bombshell regarding two major names being eyed for the MCU’s X-Men reboot: Odessa A’Zion and Peter Claffey.
While no casting has been made official, Marvel’s Big Cheese, Kevin Feige, is reportedly looking for next-gen talent to anchor the franchise for the next decade and A’Zion and Claffey certainly fit the bill.
Known for her work in Hellraiser and Sitting in Bars with Cake, A’Zion has built a career playing characters with a raw, wilful rebel energy. This aligns perfectly with a younger, more punky take on Rogue that skips the Fox-era vulnerability for the high-attitude powerhouse of the ’80s Claremont run.
In perhaps the most inspired rumor of the year, the 6’5″ Irish actor and former rugby player is being linked to Hank McCoy. Currently the star of HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Claffey represents a shift toward casting actors who naturally possess the tank proportions required for the role, moving away from purely CG-reliant versions of the character.
Don’t believe everything you hear on the gossip circuit—unless James Gunn gives it the thumbs up. After the DC Studios co-CEO took to social media to debunk earlier reports involving Ella Purnell and Adria Arjona, The Hollywood Reporter has swooped in with a new shortlist for the Empress of Almerac.
According to the report, the search for Maxima in the seque, Man of Tomorrow, has narrowed down to three powerhouse finalists.
According to THR’s Aaron Couch, Adria Arjona, Eva De Dominici, Sydney Chandler and Grace Van Patten tested for the role of Maxima this week in Atlanta. And according to Gunn’s own comments, the studio only has one role left to cast for the film, so things should come to a conclusion relatively quickly.
A member of the Royal Family of the planet Almerac, Maxima’s primary motivation is the survival and evolution of her bloodline. Considered the ultimate genetic prize of her species because of the unique structure of her DNA, she spent years traveling the cosmos in search of a “suitable” mate—someone whose power could match her own and produce an heir capable of ruling Almerac. And that quest led her to Earth where Kal-El’s Kryptonian heritage caught her attention.
A composite powerhouse with a wide array of super powers, Maxima first appeared in an antagonistic role before transitioning into an ally of Superman and, eventually, a member of the Justice League. Her appearance in the film might indicate Gunn has adapted the 1992 Superman crossover event, “Panic in the Sky,” that featured Maxima teaming up with Brainiac.
Filming on the DCU’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, is set to kick off soon and director and DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn is about looking to lock in an actress on a key role. According to a new report from Deadline, Gunnhas begun screen-testing for one of the most powerful (and persistent) antagonists: Maxima.
The shortlist is a heavy-hitter’s row of current it girls, but two names have risen to the top of the pile for the Empress of Almerac: Ella Purnell (Fallout) and Adria Arjona (Hit Man, Andor).
By choosing Maxima as a primary player for the sequel, James Gunn is leaning into the “Space Opera” side of the DC Universe. It moves the franchise away from the grounded streets of Metropolis and into the high-stakes politics of the galaxy. If Purnell or Arjona signs on, expect a villain who is as charismatic as she is dangerous.
The Beef team isn’t just bringing the drama to the X-Mansion; they’re bringing a specific, fan-favorite era of the comics with them. As part of his Collider sit-down, director Jake Schreier has finally revealed the North Star for the MCU’s X-Men reboot: The 1980s Chris Claremont Uncanny era.
Famous for turning the X-Men into a serialized drama where the characters’ interpersonal lives were just as high-stakes as their battles with Sentinels, the Claremont era not only saved the book but also elevated it. Whether through the creation of hundreds of characters–dozens of which have stood the rest of time–or simply enriching the fan favorites who already existed, Claremont cemented Marvel’s mutants and heroes as a brand that resonated with fans then and still does so today.
In talking to Collider, Schreier explained that he’s been searching the source material for a way to tell a story that feels “new” and sets itself apart from Fox’s “incredible cinematic tradition.” And it seems that, at least in part, Claremont’s seminal run provides that opportunity.
I also think just having the time to kind of sit back, and I’ve just been digging into so many of the old comics and the entire Claremont run, and just going through stuff and really trying to think about what can we do well that feels new and feels different, and that hasn’t been done well before? Obviously, there’s such an incredible cinematic tradition of these comics, but what can we do? And how can we put our own spin on what that is?
-Jake Schreier
Claremont spent 16 years building the X-Men into a global phenomenon by focusing on their humanity. By choosing this as the blueprint, Schreier is signaling that the MCU mutants won’t just be another hero team. They will be a complex, diverse family dealing with societal prejudice and internal heartbreak—the exact kind of storytelling that made the Infinity Saga so resonant.
Using the Uncanny run as inspiration allows the studio to focus on some heroes who were never really given a fair shot in Fox’s Wolverine and Friends films; it also provides the opportunity to select wildly different villains instead of another round of Magneto. While Mister Sinister and Apocalypse have been rumored to play major roles in the MCU Mutant Saga, other villains such as the Brood, Mojo, Nimrod, the Phalanx or the Reavers could also be lifted from the pages of Claremont’s work. There’s also plenty of room for Alpha Flight, the Braddock family, the Shi’ar and the Starjammers to be weaved into the narrative tapestry being spun by Schreier and the Beef-ed up writing team.
While Jonathan Hickman‘s recent run thrilled longtime fans of the comics, Claremont’s run is THE standard and if the creatives behind Marvel Studios X-Men choose wisely, MCU fans could find themselves back on top.
In a wide-ranging interview with Collider, Schreier revealed that the conversations with Kevin Feige aren’t about a single movie, but about building a multi-film architecture for Phase 7 and beyond.
“I think that, obviously, first things first: We have to make one great movie. But we always have an eye as we’re talking about it too,” Schreier explained. “What are the different places this can go? What are the places that [have] been in the comics? What hasn’t been explored as much, and how can that be incorporated? And what are some of the different avenues that we could take that feel like the kind of less-trodden path that we could go down? But those ideas are always out there, as we have the discussions.”
Given that Fox flubbed the Dark Phoenix story not once but twice while choosing not to explore other interesting avenues such as the Starjammers, Shi’ar, Brood among others, there are numerous “less-trodden” paths the Mutant Saga could take.
By announcing the plan for multiple movies before the first one has even finished its script, Marvel is signaling a return to the “long-form storytelling” that fans felt was missing in Phase 4 and 5. They aren’t just making an X-Men movie; they are building a world where mutants are the primary lens through which we see the MCU.
Marvel Studios isn’t just looking for superheroes to lead Phase 7—they’re looking for the best storytellers in the business. In an exclusive update first reported by Collider, Thunderbolts* and X-Mendirector Jake Schreier has confirmed that he is bringing his heavy-hitting Beef and The Bear collaborators into the X-Mansion.
Lee Sung Jin (creator of Beef) and Joanna Calo (showrunner of The Bear) are officially working on the latest draft of the X-Men reboot script.
“We’re still developing. You know, one of the exciting things that’s tying into Beef is that Sonny [Lee Sung Jin] and Joanna [Calo] both worked on this season,” Schreuer explained . “Obviously, I mean, Beef is Sonny’s show, and Joanna worked on the season as well, and we worked together on Season 1 of Beef and on Thunderbolts*. They have come in and are working on a draft right now, which is really exciting to be able to put that group of people together again.”
Marvel has leaned into prestige TV talent lately, but this move reunites the creative trifecta that turned Beef into an Emmy-sweeping phenomenon. Schreier, confirmed that Lee Sung and Call are currently “in the room,” refining the story originally penned by Michael Lesslie (Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes).
Schreier and Calo already have MCU chemistry, having worked together on the script for Thunderbolts*. Schreier explained that Lee’s “ability to take small interpersonal dynamics and explode them into a much larger canvas” made him a perfect candidate to work on an ensemble film like X-Men. Additonally, Schreier believes that the melodrama that defined a few decades of X-Men comics plays into the strengths of the new pair of writers.
When you go back and read X-Men [comics], there’s ideology but also interpersonal drama, almost of a soap opera quality. Having writers who understand both how to drive ideology from personal stakes, if we get that right, that’s what will feel most honest to what X-Men can be.
–X-Men director Jake Schreier
For years, the complaint against the Fox X-Men movies was that they focused too much on the spectacle and not enough on the school or the family. By hiring the people responsible for two of the most intense character studies on television, Marvel is signaling that the MCU mutants will be defined by their relationships first, and their powers second.
Though Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies wasn’t the studio’s highest-rated streaming series, the four-episode mini-event captured a massive audience. Ahead of its debut, streaming skipper Brad Winderbaum teased that while there were certainly more zombie tales to be told, viewership numbers would determine whether or not the studio would move forward.
During an appearance on the Escape Pod Podcast, Winderbaum revealed that he had seen the first animatic for the first episode of the new season, teasing that Season 2 will deliver on “an MCU thing that has really never happened before.”
Since returning to Marvel Studios to play Doctor Doom, Robert Downey Jr. has often posted Doom-themed holiday images to his personal Instagram account. This Easter weekend, he did so again and fans believe some “hidden Easter eggs” have revealed a pair of characters whose presence in Avengers: Doomsday has, so far, not been confirmed.
The image features Doom holding an Easter basket loaded up with eggs decorated with the symbols of the heroes from across the Multiverse set to face the villain in the upcoming film: Shang-Chi, the New Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Black Panther, Thor, Namor, Ant-Man, Loki and Captain America. However, tucked in the back of the basket behind the other eggs are a pair of eggs with the symbols of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
While the Strange logo leaves no room for debate, it might be worth pointing out that the Spider-Man logo more closely resembles the only typically associated with Tobey Maguire‘s Spider-Man than that seen on the suit worn by Tom Holland‘s Wall-Crawler. And, in fact, it is Maguire‘s Spidey who has often been linked to the project, with claims of a scene filmed with Deadpool and Wolverine having stirred up fans over the past few months.
“Tell me…is he the chosen one? He will avenge us.”
-The final words of Maul
In the closing moments of a life of immense pain, betrayal, madness and loss, Maul’s final words secure his evolution from a silent, stalking slasher baddie into a truly archetypal tragic monster. Sleepy Sheev Palpatine identified Maul and his rage at a young age and saw in him the opportunity to shape him into a living weapon, a tool to destroy the Jedi. Shaped by Palpatine’s cruelty, Maul’s story is one not of success but of stolen potential, systemic abuse, and a total inability to escape his own nature. After being discarded by his former master, the tragedy of Maul took shape as he used the very tools of his tormentor to try to find freedom from who he had become. And in his final moments, dying in the arms of his great enemy, Maul realized that he had lived and died in the service of a cause that never gave him anything and took everything.
Saved from a disappointing abandonment after his apparent death in The Phantom Menace, Maul became an almost Shakespearean villain under the curation of Dave Filoni. Taken from a scrap heap–both in his fictional reality and in Lucasfilm’s meeting rooms–his appearances in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, where voice actor Sam Witwer gave him new life, excavated the depths of the former Sith lord and found an emotional core that was defined mostly by a broken nature and deep desire for vengeance. When we meet Maul again in his standalone series, Maul-Shadow Lord, his pathos is unchanged: he remains a lost child seeking revenge against all who have wronged him yet years away from the catharsis he would eventually find in his death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
You may have forgotten me, but I will never forget you! You cannot imagine the depths I would go to to stay alive, fueled by my singular hatred for you!
Styled as a neo-noir crime drama, Maul-Shadow Lord Season 1 begins to spin the tale of a new age of Maul, which, while still centered on his quest for vengeance, finds the most interesting villain in the galaxy far, far away monologuing on the nature of good and evil while continuing to battle the paranoia thought left behind. Meant to make good on George Lucas’ original wishes to see Maul become the godfather of crime, the series–which has already been renewed for a second season–gives the character another chance to succeed even though we all know he’s destined to fail. Driven by his quest to reclaim his Shadow Collective and by visions of an apprentice who can help him destroy the Sith, Maul gets to be exactly who we want him to be while allowing for some deep dives into the nature of the Force, right and wrong and all the rest of the things that have allowed Star Wars to endure for 50 years…and he might just be headed for the showdown fans have always wanted.
Set on Janix–which probably feels a bit less like a character than the creators had hoped–Shadow Lord allows Maul to continue carve out his own unique space as an agent of the Force and, in some ways, allow him to work on his sale’s pitch that he will eventually use on Ezra Bridger. Though the first eight episodes of the season Maul, with the help of his crew, has his sights set on those who betrayed their allegiance to him and making Jedi Padawan Devon Izara his apprentice–and it seems as though it is somehow the will of the Force to continue to put the two on convergent paths. Joining their story is savvy cop Brander Larsen, Devon’s Master Eeko-Dio Daki (who, like Maul, is a survivor) and weasly gangster Looti Vario. And in his way: the Empire and the Inquisitorious, represented by Marrok and Eleventh Brother.
Your passions give you strength and through strength you gain power. You have seen it, you feel it. You must break your chains.
-Maul
At times, Shadow Lord feels like an Elmore Leonard novel brought to life in a stylish animated splendor that the Dickens of Detroit would have loved both for its exploration of moral ambiguity and sensationalized action. It is, in the most incredible ways, a worthy successor to the journey undertaken by Maul in The Clone Wars, and an undeniably necessary chapter that bridges the gap not only to Solo but, more urgently and apparently, Rebels.
Sam Witwer‘s exquisite voice work drips with pulpy evil layered with subtextual anquish, making Maul-Shadow Lord not only best Maul to date but also continuing to establush Maul, the discarded son, as perhaps a true cornerstone character in the galaxy. Most interestingly, Maul’s evolution seems to have brought him aroud to an equal but opposite view of the Force as that held by Qui-Gon Jinn. One could make the argument that if the two met now, they might have a nice conversation over a cup of tea. Instead, Maul killed Jinn which was the first of many incidents that lead Anakin Skywalker to the side of Palpatine. From the scrap heap to leading what is sure to become the next truly great animated Star Wars series. If only his mom and brother could see him now.
We are less than 12 hours away from the return of Sam Witwer as the voice of Maul, and we now have the full map for former Sithord’s journey. Disney+ has confirmed the release schedule for Maul-Shadow Lord, and it’s a sprint to May the 4th.
The Lineup:
April 6: Chapters 1 & 2 (“The Dark Revenge” / “Sinister Schemes”)
April 13: Chapters 3 & 4 (“Whispers in the Unknown” / “Pride and Vengeance”)
April 20: Chapters 5 & 6 (“Inquisition” / “Night of the Hunted”)
April 27: Chapters 7 & 8 (“Call to the Oblivion” / “The Creeping Fear”)
May 4: Chapters 9 & 10 (“Strange Allies” / “Finale”)
New episodes will be available at 12 AM PT/3 AM ET.
The decision to release these in pairs weekly is a smart move to keep the event feel alive during the lead-up to finale. By ending on Star Wars Day–amd withholding the final two episodes from the screening package–it’s obvious that Lucasfilm has a major surprise or two in store.
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