The New Mutants being delayed into 2019 will only work in the film’s favor, according to lead star Maisie Williams.
The Game of Thrones stalwart recently sat down with Collider to discuss HBO’s Song of Ice and Fire, along with her upcoming portrayal of Rahne Sinclair – better known to you, I and her fellow mutants as Wolfsbane.
Josh Boone’s spinoff was initially set to light up the silver screen in April of this year, before 20th Century Fox upended its release slate and pushed The New Mutants by a full 10 months. Such an extensive delay means that the pic, one that’s said to be one of the hardest PG-13s ever made, isn’t expected to arrive until 2019, but Williams firmly believes the delay is for the best.
We finished in September and they were going to release in April and there’s — it’s a mutant film, there’s a lot of effects. There’s a lot of work that goes into the movie. They really make the movie after we finish shooting, so there was always kind of a bit nervous, really. I know how long this sort of thing takes on Game of Thrones and I know the work that they want to put in is — it’s a huge job. Actually, I think it’s for the better. I think it’s good that we’ve got more time. We’re not so strapped and up against it.
Also starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton of Stranger Things, Maisie Williams then clarified that The New Mutants was “always bizarre” to begin with, and wasn’t delayed in order to ramp up the horror aspect.
Well, it was always bizarre to me when we were shooting — when were shooting it was frightening and the scenes that we were doing were supposed to be like PG-13. I was always like are we going to get away with this? It was really scary. I feel like all of the suspense and horror has always been there, it’s just nice to have a little bit more leeway in the editing and make it as scary as it deserves to be.
Fox’s decision to delay The New Mutants also affected Gambit, which slipped into the summer of 2019 after losing director Gore Verbinski. The result? Only Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix are slated to release this year, with New Mutants now expected to drop on February 22nd, 2019.
