Out With The Old (Man Logan), In With The New (Mutants): Fox's 'New Mutants' Officially Enters Pre-Production

Hugh Jackman has hung up his claws, Deadpool is preparing to take on Cable, and the #XMen are doing, well, no one really knows. While #Fox's mutant franchise is up in the air and all over the place, there is finally good news for fans of Charles Xavier and his school for special kids.

It has seemed like a long time coming, but #JoshBoone's #NewMutants is finally entering pre-production. The film's director announced the news on Instagram in probably the best way possible: with a cake!

Let's suit up.

The announcement just so happened to coincide with Boone's birthday, but he confirmed that production starts now and filming is expected to start in Montreal this summer.

We had heard that production was due to start this spring, with a possible release around this time next year, so at least everything seems on track. A second picture had the director deep in thought on the Fox lot, also proving that work is well underway for New Mutants. Announced back in 2015, there have been several names attached to star in the project, but as of yet, no one has been confirmed.

Boone himself circled some concept art that appeared to show Game of Thrones actress #MaisieWilliams as Wolfsbane, so we are about 99.9 percent sure that she will be involved. Elsewhere, #JamesMcAvoy had his interest piqued and said that we would love to reprise his role as #CharlesXavier, but it is unknown if he meant in New Mutants or the proposed '90s era sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse. With #PatrickStewart a little more reluctant to return to the X-Men, it would make perfect sense that McAvoy sit back in the wheelchair for either feature film.

What to expect.

The New Mutants film will reportedly focus on Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz's "Demon Bear Saga" from 1984, which saw the mutant Mirage face her biggest fears and the titular Demon Bear. It involved a younger team of Xavier's that was ironically dubbed the "New Mutants," but with the tagline, “Don’t Call ‘Em X-Babies Anymore!,” it moved the title in a darker direction. Speaking about the story, Boone told Creative Screenwriting:

“It was really dark, interesting and different from the typical X-Men stories that we had read.”

It is expected that the lineup will include the likes of Mirage, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Cannonball, Magik and Warlock, who all went on to be mainstays of Marvel #comics but have remained (largely) untouched in the cinematic universe — Sunspot had a brief cameo in Days of Future Past.

After 17 years of Scott, Jean, and yes, even Wolverine, it is about time that Fox pumped some new blood into their mutantverse. With ties to Xavier, New Mutants has the potential to bring in a new fan base without alienating those who have grown up with the X-Men films.

Franchise producer Simon Kinberg has said that New Mutants will share DNA with Netflix's cult hit Stranger Things, riffing off retro culture and all things geeky. Originally pitched as a trilogy of movies, it is unknown what the future plans are for New Mutants, but with production officially off the ground, it is time to power up a whole new team of teens.