Simon Kinberg Says That The Classic Cast Won’t Return For X-Men: Apocalypse

For those who are thrilled that they’re getting the chance to see actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen reprise their X-Men roles, we have some bad news. X-Men: Days of Future Past will likely be the only time that you get to see the classic cast again. The next film in the franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse, will be more of a sequel to X-Men: First Class and will focus on the characters in their younger versions.

Simon Kinberg, the scribe behind Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, spoke at WonderCon this past weekend and confirmed what many of us had already assumed. When asked by HitFix if the next instalment in the franchise would combine both casts again, he said the following:

Certainly things that take place in ‘Days of Future Past’ in the past have an impact on the future. That’s the whole point of the plot and, I can say, in at least the vaguest of terms there care repercussions from what happens in 1973 that ripple all the way forward in time. Which means they would ripple through the time periods of the original ‘X-Men’ movies. That’s a vague answer to your question.

[Apocalypse] really follows the ‘First Class’ cast. Meaning it is a sequel that will feature McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nic Hoult and that cast. It is not a sequel that would necessarily feature Ian, Patrick, Halle and the original cast.  It would take place roughly between the past of ‘Days of Future Past’ and when ‘X-Men’ first started.

While he doesn’t outright deny anything, it’s pretty clear by his comments that X-Men: Apocalypse will do away with the likes of the original cast. It makes sense as well. Combining the two casts is a tremendous undertaking and trying to do it again for the next X-Men film would likely be a fool’s errand. As it is, a lot of people are still skeptical as to whether or not Bryan Singer and co. pulled it off for the upcoming sequel.

Of course, all will be revealed when X-Men: Days of Future Past opens on May 23rd. At that point, we’ll have a much better idea of how the two casts fit together and why the original X-Men won’t be making an appearance again.