Famke Janssen played founding X-Men member Jean Grey in the first three movies and also popped up for cameo appearances in both The Wolverine and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. The upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse will actually work as a soft reboot of sorts, because many of the original team will be replaced by younger incarnations of the characters – but, that doesn’t mean Janssen is done with the role.
During an interview with EW Radio, the actress recalled the time Sophie Turner (who’ll take over as Jean in Apocalypse) emailed her for advice. Janssen told the Game of Thrones star that she didn’t need any, and said she’s excited to see what she does with the character. But, by the same token, it seems Janssen is adamant that there’s room for both versions of Jean in the X-Universe.
In the X-Men series, they’ve been doing this for years. Although women, it’s interesting because they’re replaced, and the older versions – or more mature, whatever the politically correct version of that is – are never to be seen again. Whereas the men are allowed to be both ages. Sexism. I think that I should be back along with my younger version and the way that we’ve seen it with Magneto and Professor X.
Tell us, do you think Janssen has a point? Or did we see both older and younger versions of Xavier and Magento simply because that story demanded it?
X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 18.