9 Actors Who Almost Ended Up Playing X-Men

Over the nine films in the franchise, the X-Men series has featured a great many of the good and the glamorous in Hollywood – with many of the cast finding their most famous roles in playing the beloved mutants. The most obvious example is Hugh Jackman, who absolutely has his subsequent acting success to thank for landing the part of Wolverine way back in 2000. However, he wasn’t the first choice. As fans of the franchise might know, Scottish actor Dougray Scott was lined up to play Logan until Tom Cruise personally asked for him to play the villain in Mission: Impossible II. Scott then pulled out of X-Men (not knowing he was missing out on the role of a lifetime) and Jackman stepped in. But what other actors and actresses were likewise almost cast in X-Men movies? Here, we take a look at 9 stars who were in the running to play X-Men until a mutation of fate forced them out of the role. 9) Bob Hoskins - Wolverine Back in the early 1990s, James Cameron and his then-wife Kathryn Bigelow were on board to helm a movie version of the X-Men, with comics legend Chris Claremont on consulting duties. Before the project fell through (leading to Cameron's next plan to make a Spider-Man movie, which also never happened), they had some of the cast lined up, including Angela Bassett as Storm. Who would have played the coveted role of Wolverine, though? Well, Bob Hoskins, obviously. Viewers used to Hugh Jackman’s ripped version of Logan might scoff at the idea of the bulldog-like Hoskins, most known for his part in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as the Wolverine. However, it should be remembered that the character is a fierce, diminutive person in the comics. In that regard, Hoskins would have fit the bill very well. 8) Neil Patrick Harris - Nightcrawler When blue beasty Nightcrawler was introduced into the franchise in X2, they really needed to find an actor with a lot of energy and likeability to play him, so that audiences could get past the extreme make-up and actually care for the character. With his bamf-ing abilities, the actor also needed to be light on their feet. Given that, it makes a lot of sense that singer/dancer and sitcom star Neil Patrick Harris was originally one of the favourites to nab the part. Allegedly, he was one of the final choices and only lost out on the part to Alan Cumming due to the Scottish actor’s ability to speak fluent German – a handy plus when playing a German-born mutant. 7) Summer Glau – Kitty Pryde Writer/director Joss Whedon has often spoken about how much Kitty Pryde influenced his own strong female characters – so it's only fitting then that an actress who played one of Whedon's creations also once auditioned to play the fan favorite mutant. After starring as River Tam in Whedon's Firefly, Summer Glau auditioned for the part of Kitty in X-Men: The Last Stand. The odds were on her nabbing the role, too, partly due to the actress getting tips on how to play the character from Whedon. In the end, though, it was not meant to be, and Ellen Page grabbed the part instead. No offence to Page, who did a fine job with what she was given, but it kind of is a shame that Glau didn’t get the role, just due to the pleasingly cyclical nature of it all. 6) Jim Caviezel - Cyclops Now most known for TV’s Person of Interest, Jim Caviezel was apparently once the guy who kept on nearly getting superhero parts. He was almost cast in Superman Returns but lost out to Brandon Routh, and before that, he nearly landed the part of Cyclops in the first X-Men. Caviezel was actually formally cast as Scott Summers, but had to pull out late in the game due to scheduling clashes with his movie Frequency. Other rumours state, however, that he left the movie due to Cyclop’s diminished role. Fun fact: Another actor at one point linked with the role of Cyclops was Aaron Taylor-Johnson, back when it was thought that the character would appear in X-Men: First Class. If you ask us though, after playing Kick-Ass and Quicksilver, we think that the guy probably has enough superheroes on his CV. 5) Natalie Portman - Jubilee Natalie Portman now has a prominent role in a superhero franchise as Jane Foster in the Thor films (though it looks like she might have left the part behind), but she could have played another Marvel character much earlier. For 2000’s original X-Men movie, an early draft of the script featured Jubilee (a character that fans of X-Men: The Animated Series will be familiar with). Usually of Asian descent, she would have been played here by Portman – until the actress decided to turn the part down. She was apparently integral to the role, too, as the character was subsequently written out of the film entirely once Portman declined to sign on. In her place, Rogue’s role in the story was increased, with the character simply taking over Jubilee’s scenes. Jubilee finally makes her belated cinematic debut in X-Men: Apocalypse, as played by Lana Condor, but we still can't help but to wonder how Portman would have done in the part all those years ago. 4) Kate Winslet - Rogue Now that Jubilee was out the picture and Rogue was the focal point of the film, Fox considered going in various different directions with the character. One actress, in particular, who was pursued would have been notably removed from what we eventually got. At one point, Kate Winslet was courted for the role of Rogue, though the actress eventually turned it down. If she had accepted the part, Winslet’s take would presumably have been a slightly older and surer character, rather than the shy and troubled teen that Rogue became in the film. Other actresses considered at the time included Sarah Michelle Gellar (another Whedon alumn) and Rachel Leigh Cook. Of course, the part eventually went to Anna Paquin, who played the role on and off up until last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. 3) Channing Tatum - Gambit No, we're not referring to the delayed Gambit spinoff movie that will star Channing Tatum. We're referring to the fact that the actor could have played the role a lot earlier, if plans to feature the character in third X-Men movie, The Last Stand came about. Tatum was originally locked into the part, but sadly for him, the character was cut from the movie due to it being deemed there were too many mutants running around already (they got that right). A few years later, Fox returned to Tatum and offered to cast him as the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, though he had to pass on that occasion due to scheduling conflicts and the role was then filled by Taylor Kitsch. We think it's fair to say that at this point, Channing really deserves that Gambit solo movie. 2) Sigourney Weaver – Emma Frost After the heights of X2, The Last Stand came as a big disappointment. Largely, this is because of director Brett Ratner’s mishandling of the material. Originally though, franchise regular Bryan Singer was going to direct the move, and he had in mind an interesting take on a classic X-Men character. His version of the movie would have featured a greater emphasis on the Dark Phoenix storyline, with Emma Frost acting as the villain who attempted to manipulate Jean's powers. The plan was for the White Queen to be played by Sigourney Weaver, though the actress wasn’t formally approached. Emma Frost eventually appeared in X-Men: First Class, with January Jones in the role, but she proved hugely unmemorable and left us curious as to how things would have worked out with Weaver taking on the part. 1) Practically Half Of Hollywood - Wolverine Understandably, Wolverine is the most highly sought after role in the X-Men franchise, with many an actor having been in the running to play the part before Jackman (and Dougray Scott before him) was cast. In fact, it seemed that half of the men in Hollywood were under consideration. The list of potential Wolvies included Mel Gibson, Keanu Reeves, Ed Norton, Jean Claude Van Damme, Aaron Eckhart, Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortensen and Johnny Depp. You can pretty much see why they considered each of these, although presumably Depp was only one thought of for previously playing another character with sharp digits in Edward Scissorhands. Some of these would have been very interesting to see, but we think the right actor ended up donning the claws in the end. Though with the clock ticking on Hugh Jackman’s time in the role, the hunt for a new Wolverine might be about to begin....