According to director Josh Boone, The New Mutants will feature a “beautiful love story.”
The film, penned by Boone and screenwriter Knate Lee, will be very different than any other X-Men movie or television outing thus far. Inspired largely by the 1980s “Demon Bear” comic book arc by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, it’ll feature the story of young mutants being held forcefully at a secret facility under the appointment of Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga).
Reyes claims that young mutants can be very dangerous because they don’t yet have full control over their substantial powers. Life-long bonds will soon form between the mutant group though as they face their own pasts and attempt to escape the facility to live their lives of their own accord.
Among the most impactful bonds in the horror take on the X-Men universe will be Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams) having a same-sex relationship with Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt), an attachment that Williams has said is “a real extension of what is touched on in the comics.” This is largely due to the two characters sharing a telepathic bond, a scenario that would likely create an intimate connection for almost anyone. According to Williams, the relationship is not a focal point of the film and therefore never feels like a gimmick, a creative decision that helped drive her interest in playing the character.
The New Mutants has suffered from a turbulent production that has seen it go through quite a few release dates already. Originally slated for release back in April of 2018, the film was pushed back to February of 2019 before eventually being delayed once again to August to allow time for reshoots aimed at improving the story and make it scarier (though Boone now denies that reshoots ever actually happened). After being hit with yet another delay after Disney acquired Fox, it’s now set to release April 3rd, 2020.