The upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix will reunite just about every major character from the previous three movies in the franchise, continuing the rebooted story of the X-Men universe that began with 2011’s First Class. One star of the series who was there at the beginning of this journey was Rose Byrne, who played CIA agent Moira MacTaggert – an ally for the X-Men and a love interest for James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier.
However, we now know that Byrne is one of the few who won’t be part of the next installment. While promoting Peter Rabbit, Cinema Blend questioned the actress about Dark Phoenix and she revealed that, though she would love to have been part of the film, she won’t be.
“Unfortunately, Moira is not showing up. I wish she was. I had such fun on X-Men: Apocalypse. I love that cast. It is a really fun, what do you call it? Superhero film… ensemble exactly. I can’t wait to see what [Jessica Chastain] does, cause I’m such a fan.”
As Byrne reminds us, Moira previously turned up in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. This was set twenty years after the events of First Class and saw Charles return the memories of their time together that he’d wiped from her mind for the protection of his students. This move seemed to hint at a potential romantic development for the couple, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be picked up at all now.
And, if she isn’t in this one, Rose Byrne could have made her last ever appearance in the X-Men franchise. With Fox being acquired by Disney (unless Comcast outbids them), the series will probably be rebooted as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not that this was the intention when Dark Phoenix was made, mind you, so we’ll just have to wait and see what shape it leaves the franchise in.
While Byrne is a no-show, X-Men: Dark Phoenix does star a huge ensemble cast including James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jessica Chastain – making her debut in the X-Men world as a sinister shape-shifting alien. Catch it when it blasts into theaters on November 2nd.
