While James Bond casting rumors have had everyone’s attention this summer, Deadline’s Justin Kroll reported that the most active talent search has been for the actors who will play Marvel’s new team of Mutants. Following meetings and auditions over the last couple months, sources say a small group of actors tested for a few prime X-Men roles after the July 4 holiday.
Since then, we’ve broken the news about who’s likely to play Scott Summers and Emma Frost and Spider-Man: Brand New Day has introduced us to the next Jean Grey.
While the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday will feature familiar faces in many iconic X-Men roles, these new castings are for what will be the first X-Men movie since Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox and its library in 2019.
As Deadline also reported exclusively, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier is leading the effort. Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear co-creator Joanna Calo were hired to pen the script.
Scroll through the gallery below to see images of who is confirmed for which role.
More names were introduced at Disney Entertainment’s D23 Showcase.
Sadie Sink as Jean Grey
As Spider-Man: Brand New Day broke box office records, it also broke the news that Sadie Sink would be palying Jean Grey, the all-powerful mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities.
Sink is best known for her role of Max Mayfield in four out of the five seasons of Netflix’s sci-fi tentpole series, Stranger Things. She also appeared as Tess DeNunzio in Dear Zoe (2022), Ellie in The Whale (2022) alongside Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser, Mazzy Monroe in A Sacrifice (2024) and in O’Dessa (2025)
Of the gathering ensemble, Sink has said, “I think a great cast is coming together, and I think people are going to be really excited about it when it’s all announced.”
Kit Connor as Scott Summers
Kit Connor’s star has been on the rise since his scene-stealing role in the Netflix series Heartstopper, recently reprising the role in a movie spinoff Heartstopper Forever. Following that, he caught the eye of director Alex Garland, who cast him in his A24 war film Warfare. He will also be in the upcoming adaptation Elden Ring.
Cyclops (AKA Scott Summers) has been one of the cornerstones of the X-Men comics, first appearing in a 1963 effort from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The character is the captain of the team of mutants, best known for the powerful beams of energy emitted from his eyes that he controls through a visor or sunglasses. He is romantically tied to Jean Grey.
The character has been played by two actors in the past: James Marsden and Tye Sheridan.
Samara Weaving as Emma Frost
Samara Weaving already is having herself a big 2026. In March, she led Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the sequel to the 2019 hit horror-comedy, stepping back into the role of fierce protagonist Grace MacCaullay. She followed with IFC’s Over Your Dead Body, winner of a SXSW Audience Award, which she co-led opposite Jason Segel.
Emma Frost is a telepathic mutant who first showed up in X-Men comics in the 1980s and has evolved over the years, going from supervillain to a key member of the X-Men. On the film side, she most recently was played by January Jones in 2011’s X-Men: First Class.
Christopher Abbott as Professor X
Christopher Abbott, who has East of Eden coming up on Netflix later this year, has been cast as Professor X, or Charles Xavier. Sir Patrick Stewart will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday.
Photo : Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Disney
Maya Boyd as Storm
Maya Boyd will portray Storm, whom T’Challah has a son with in the comics.
Adam Driver as Mister Sinister
Adam Driver zoomed in to D23 and joked that he would be playing Magneto, but he quickly corrected his role to Nathaniel Millbury, an alias for major X-Men villain Mister Sinister.
Inde Navarette as Rogue
Obsession breakout Inde Navarette will portray Rogue in the film.
