Grab those Tamagotchis and crank up the pop music; 20th Century Fox is steering its flagship X-Men franchise toward the ’90s for the inevitable new movie.
That’s according to series producer Simon Kinberg, who revealed to Coming Soon that the studio’s next foray in the mutants universe would continue the streak from Bryan Singer’s prequel trilogy – First Class (1960s), Days of Future Past (1970s) and this month’s X-Men: Apocalypse (1980s) – by taking place in a 90s setting. Could Kinberg be referring to Josh Boone’s New Mutants offshoot that’s beginning to gain traction at Fox?
As a matter of fact, The Fault in Our Stars filmmaker recently took to Instagram to unveil what we assume to be the core lineup for his X-Men spinoff – Magik, Wolfsbane, Dani Moonstar, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Warlock – likely flanked by Alexandra Shipp’s mercurial Storm. No word yet on casting for Boone’s actioner, but both Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams and relative newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) have been linked over the past few weeks.
A 90s setting would make sense, then, particularly for Shipp’s character of Storm who will be coming off the global showdown that is X-Men: Apocalypse. Plus, as Fox’s mutant universe continues to evolve, rooting New Mutants in the ’90s affords Boone and Co. with some creative leeway to carve out origin tales far away from Singer’s barnstorming prequel trilogy.
Later this month, Bryan Singer will be heralding the end of days, while Hugh Jackman himself is gearing up for one final appearance as Wolverine. But Fox’s lucrative franchise doesn’t end there, and at least now we know the next X-Men movie – whatever that may be – will be set against the 1990s.
