Taglines: Everyone has remons.
The New Mutants Movie Storyline. Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves. The New Mutants, an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring. When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle to try and make it out alive.
The New Mutants is an upcoming American horror film in the superhero genre, based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name and distributed by 20th Century Studios. It was initially developed to be an installment of the X-Men film series. The film was directed by Josh Boone from a screenplay by himself and Knate Lee, and stars Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga. In the film, a group of young mutants held in a secret facility fight to save themselves.
Danielle Moonstar as Mirage
It was revealed in November 2016 that the New Mutants movie would adapt one of the comic series’ most notable arcs, The Demon Bear — and from this we can glean that Danielle Moonstar will be the central character in the upcoming film. And while we don’t yet know who will be playing the mutant heroine in Josh Boone’s blockbuster, we can get a solid idea of what to expect from the movie in general by exploring Moonstar’s role in the story.
Danielle Moonstar is a Native American mutant with a number of impressive mental powers — including telepathy and psionic abilities — but they manifested in a rather horrific way when she was a young girl. Specifically, she caught a psychic glimpse of her parents being killed by a demonic bear — and then a few weeks later both her mom and dad disappeared. She was taken in by her magically-inclined grandfather, Black Eagle, and while she continued to have nightmares about the Demon Bear, they were kept at bay thanks to Black Eagle’s spells.
These horrific dreams return to Moonstar during her tenure as a member of the New Mutants team, but rather than repressing them, she prepares to take on the evil ursine. Unfortunately for her, this horrific entity proves to be far more than she can face by herself, and she turns to her teammates to assist her in her battle.
It was only just about a week before the start of production on New Mutants that the film cast its star to play Danielle Moonstar, but at least they got it done under the wire. In early July 2017, it was reported that the comic book movie blockbuster had hired newcomer Blu Hunt to take on the key role in the 2018 flick. The film will actually be her big screen debut, though she does have some notable experience in that she plays a recurring role on the CW series The Originals.
Rahne Sinclair as Wolfsbane
Thanks to Mystique and Beast in previous X-Men movies, fans have seen plenty of mutants who have the ability to physically transform on the big screen… but Wolfsbane’s particular power is a tad more traditional than what we’ve seen. After all, she is basically a mutant lycanthrope — able to either turn herself into a human/wolf hybrid or go full wolf-mode.
Like most of the New Mutants team, Wolfsbane a.k.a. Rahne Sinclair was created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, and her backstory involves a strictly religious upbringing in Scotland that was followed by horrific persecution. She was nearly burned at the stake, but was rescued and eventually adopted by Moira MacTaggert (who was played by Rose Byrne in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse). Sadly, at this stage we don’t know how much of this narrative will find its way into the New Mutants movie.
What we do know, however, is the identity of the actress who will be playing the first live-action version of Wolfsbane. It was reported all the way back in April 2016 that Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams was being considered for the part, and Josh Boone basically confirmed the casting himself in February 2017 by posting concept art of a part-wolf Williams. Considering that the writer/director has been discussing the horror elements of the movie he wants to make, hopefully we can expect some very cool transformation sequences.
Anya Taylor Joy as Illyana Rasputin – Magik
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy caught a lot of people’s attention extremely fast thanks to her fantastic performance in the 2015 indie horror movie The Witch, and her star has only been rising ever since. She played the lead role in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2017 hit Split — and now she is confirmed to be a part of her second superhero franchise. It has been confirmed that Taylor-Joy will be playing Magik a.k.a. Illyana Rasputin in Josh Boone’s New Mutants.
If that last name looks familiar (beyond the notorious Russian mystic), it’s because Magik is actually the younger sister of Piotr Rasputin a.k.a. the metal-covered mutant Colossus. They grew up together in Russia, though Illyana was kidnapped and brought to the United States when she was only six years old. It was after her rescue that she was first brought to the X-Mansion – though she spent most of her adolescence in the Limbo dimension being trained in the ways of magic and combat.
It was after leaving the Limbo dimension that she returned to Earth and joined the New Mutants (she was 10 years older than when she left, but no time had passed since her departure). In addition to her learned skills, her mutant power allows her to teleport — though what sets her apart from, say, Nightcrawler, is that she can teleport through both space and time, both future and past. It’s not a power that’s easily controlled, and significant screw-ups have occurred — but that should just make for great story fodder in the New Mutants movie.
Bobby da Costa as Sunspot
Most of the characters who will make up the titular team in The New Mutants will be making their live-action debut — but Sunspot is the exception. Director Bryan Singer enlisted actor Adan Canto to play the part in X-Men: Days of Future Past, using him as one of last surviving mutants in a future that has been destroyed by the Sentinels. Of course, the timeline shift that occurred at the end of that movie means that he’s technically not part of the canon anymore, which opens up the possibility to use him in Josh Boone’s New Mutants.
Hailing from Brazil, Sunspot a.k.a. Roberto “Bobby” da Costa has the mutant ability to soak in solar power and redirect it. While he ordinarily looks like a normal person, when he is in his energized state his entire body turns into a non-reflective black color, allowing him to most efficiently absorb the sun’s energy. Actor Henry Zaga, who recently earned attention for his part in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, will be playing the part in The New Mutants, and the project will be his biggest to date. We’re excited to see what he does with it.
Sam Guthrie as Cannonball
As far as adapting mutant powers for the big screen, the introduction of Cannonball in New Mutants should be quite interesting. In the most basic terms, he has the power to fly at super speeds — but what makes that possible is that he can release thermo-chemical energy from his skin, and basically turn the lower half of his body into a jet propulsion system. Because of this, he can fly around incredibly fast, create blast fields, and really just kick all kinds of ass.
So who will be playing the southern-fried, Kentucky-born mutant in New Mutants? For a long time it was suggested that the role could go to Nat Wolff, who previously worked with Josh Boone on The Fault in Our Stars, but that rumor hit the wastebasket in May 2017. Instead, it looks like Cannonball a.k.a. Sam Guthrie will be played by Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton. Can he pull off the accent? We’ll find out soon enough!
Alice Braga as Dr Cecilia Reyes
Initially it was expected that Rosario Dawson would be playing the role of Dr. Cecilia Reyes in The New Mutants – the actress previously having a close relationship with comic book material through projects like the Marvel Netflix shows and the animated Wonder Woman movie. Scheduling conflicts forced her to drop out, however, leaving the production with a casting gap to fill. Fortunately, they landed on the talented Alice Braga to play the part.
As you would expect, Dr. Cecilia Reyes is a mutant herself, in addition to being a doctor, and was introduced to Marvel Comics in 1997. Her special ability is the creation of psioplasmic bio-fields… which basically means that she can generate an incredibly strong energy barrier around herself that can protect her from outside attack. It’s worth noting that she doesn’t really have a big connection with the New Mutants in the source material, but this would hardly be the first time details were fudged in an adaptation. Based on the trailer, it looks like she will be the primary caretaker for the titular characters as they adjust to their dangerous abilities.
The New Mutants (2020)
Directed by: Josh Boone
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Alice Braga, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Happy Anderson, Sarah Bennani, Colbi Gannett, Max Schochet, Tony Saquett, Mickey Gilmore, Jeffrey Corazzini
Screenplay by: Josh Boone, Knate Lee
Production Design by: Molly Hughes
Cinematography by: Peter Deming
Film Editing by: Robb Sullivan
Costume Design by: Leesa Evans, Virginia Johnson
Set Decoration by: Merissa Lombardo
Art Direction by: Ravi Bansal, Steve Cooper, Loic Zimmermann
Music by: Mike Mogis, Nate Walcott
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violent content, some disturbing/bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release Date: August 28, 2020
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