X-Men: Apocalypse Will HAVE To Recast Storm and Cyclops, Says Simon Kinberg (Exclusive)

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ screenwriter Simon Kinberg has confirmed to Yahoo that they will need to recast classic X-Men characters for the 2016 film.

Watch the video here.

It was confirmed overnight that Bryan Singer will return to direct ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, the third ‘X-Men’ film to feature the younger cast including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult.

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The news came from Deadline along with the snippet of info that classic X-Men characters from the first three films would feature in ‘Apocalypse’, albeit in younger guises.

"Charles (James McAvoy), Erik/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Hank/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) are joined by young Cyclops, Storm, Jean and others as the X-Men must fight their most formidable foe yet: an ancient unrelenting force determined to cause an apocalypse unlike any in human history.”

X-Men: Apocalypse Will HAVE To Recast Storm and Cyclops, Says Simon Kinberg (Exclusive)

Screenwriter Simon Kinberg told Yahoo earlier this week that recasting these classic characters (originally portrayed by James Marsden, Halle Berry, and Famke Janssen) was a necessity, due to the 1980s setting of the film.

“If we included some of the original X-Men, like Storm, and Jean, and Scott [Summers, AKA Cyclops] and others in ‘Apocalypse’, then yeah, we would have to recast them because it takes place a good 20 years before ‘X1’ which now, insanely, was now 10-15 years ago. It’d be very hard to do.”

He also clarified that the next X-Men film probably wouldn’t feature any of the “future” mutants from ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ such as Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde or Omar Sy’s Bishop.

You can watch the edited highlights of our in-depth interview with the ‘X-Men’ screenwriter below, but make sure you come back on Friday for the full, uncut 17 minute video chat with Simon.