According to director Josh Boone, The New Mutants costars Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy had an extra long wait for the film. Based on the Marvel comic books created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod in 1982, the movie revolves around a group of troubled young mutants who’re struggling to control their powers when they find themselves trapped in a secret facility against their will. Williams and Taylor-Joy co-star as Wolfsbane and Magik opposite a cast that includes Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, Blu Hunt as Mirage, and Henry Zaga as Sunspot.
Although it’s the last of Fox’s X-Men films to reach theaters, New Mutants was actually shot all the way back in mid- 2017. It was originally slated to open in April 2018, but was later delayed for reshoots that were reportedly meant to bring it closer to being a full-blown horror movie (like the one teased in its original trailer). Ultimately, those reshoots never happened and New Mutants kept being pushed back, leading some to wonder if Disney would release it on Hulu or Disney+ after finalizing its purchase of Fox in 2019. Instead, the Mouse House will give the film a proper theatrical run in April, almost exactly two years after its original release date.
While it may feel like it’s taken forever for New Mutants to finally see the light of day, it’s been even longer for Williams and Taylor-Joy. When Screen Rant visited the New Mutants set back in August 2017, Boone revealed “We had Maisie and Anya for like a year and a half before we even got greenlit, so they read like 20 drafts, you know, as [co-writer Knate Lee] and I went through draft after draft after draft.” For those keeping track, Boone was hired to direct New Mutants in May 2015. That means Williams and Taylor-Joy have been attached to the movie for upwards of 5 to 6 years.
Both actors are in a very different place now than they were when they committed to making New Mutants all those years ago. Williams, of course, was only about half-way done playing Arya Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones at the time and had barely started to branch out into acting in films (with early roles in movies like The Falling). Meanwhile, Taylor-Joy was on the cusp of making a name for herself in the horror and thriller genres with her roles in The Witch, Split, and Glass. It must’ve been a very strange experience for them to see their younger selves onscreen when they finally got to watch New Mutants last week.
In fact, all five of New Mutants’ young stars have already gone on to do interesting work on other projects of late. Heaton, obviously, is best known for playing Jonathan Byers on Netflix hit Stranger Things, while Zaga and Hunt have similarly appeared in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and Another Life (among other TV shows). Boone had originally intended to bring them back for a New Mutants movie trilogy - one that would’ve greatly impacted Fox’s X-Men films - but that’s no longer happening and the actors have largely moved on with their careers in the meantime. It’s still possible The New Mutants will be folded into the MCU down the line but, failing that, it may serve as a fascinating time capsule for its up and coming cast.
- New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28
