by Darren Franich

Next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse will feature younger versions of three of the most famous mutant superheroes. Director Bryan Singer just announced via Twitter that Apocalypse will feature three new actors playing Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Storm. The most famous name is Sophie Turner, who plays ever-suffering Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones. Turner will take over the part of uber-telepath Jean Grey, originally played by Famke Janssen. Turner’s Thrones co-star Peter Dinklage played the bad guy in Days of Future Past; this doesn’t necessarily mean that Emilia Clarke will play Psylocke and Rose Leslie will play Siryn in 2018’s X-Men: Excalibur, but I’m starting that rumor just in case.

Apocalypse will also feature a younger version of Cyclops—not to be confused with the younger version of Cyclops that appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie that was wiped from existence after the events of Future Past. The new Cyclops will be played by Tye Sheridan, the tough-faced teen actor who appeared in The Tree of Life and starred in Joe.

Apocalypse will also reintroduce Storm, the weather-controlling mutant previously played by Halle Berry’s Hair. The new Storm is Alexandra Shipp, who’s probably best known for playing Aaliyah in last year’s Lifetime biopic.

They join fellow franchise newbie Oscar Isaac, who’s playing titular bad guy Apocalypse, along with returning cast members James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence. Apocalypse is supposedly set in the ’80s and is even-more-supposedly a concluding chapter for the First Class X-Men, though it’s also rumored to feature Channing Tatum as Gambit and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and maybe Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. But not Taylor Kitsch’s Gambit, no no, never again.

It’s unclear if the new stars will be central figures, or if they’ll be introduced as a kind of “new class” that will take over the franchise, kind of like Kitty Pryde and Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand, which is also a movie that was wiped out of existence after Days of Future Past. Since this is an X-Men movie, expect Bryan Singer to make more casting announcements roughly once a week for the next thirteen months.

Source: EW