X-Men, assemble! Marvel Studios unveiled the star-studded lineup for the highly anticipated new X-Men movie during its 2026 D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event panel.
Fresh off her debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Sadie Sink graced the D23 Expo stage on Friday, August 14, alongside Marvel exec Kevin Feige and director Jake Schreier to introduce the rest of the X-Men characters.
Heartstopper star Kit Connor will join the MCU as Cyclops, alongside Christopher Abbott’s Professor Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette’s portrayal of Rogue and Maya Boyd bringing Storm to life.
During the presentation, Feige, 53, noted that there was “someone else who wanted to be here.”
“Hey, D23,” Star Wars star Adam Driver said in a brief video shared with the audience, revealing his role as Nathaniel Milbury/Mister Sinister.
The new version of X-Man will premiere in theaters on May 5, 2028.
Based on the beloved Marvel Comics franchise, there have been multiple live-screen adaptations including 2000’s X-Men trilogy, 2011’s X-Men: First Class and even more spinoffs including Logan (2017) and Dark Phoenix (2019). Few details about the new iteration have been revealed.
“I grew up with the original movies, and it’s really cool because it also feels like we are doing a really different version,” Connor, 22, told Good Morning America during a cast interview later on Friday. “[It’s] a different take, which is really exciting.”
As for director Schreier, he further hinted to GMA how his version would differ from adaptations past.
“They’ve made such great movies in this world, [and] let’s find the things that haven’t recently been [shown] from all these other corners of the universe,” Schreier, 44, teased on Friday. “There’s so many stories that are still untold, to honor and to reach into and to meet this cast and try to do something new. I think you always want to see something that reveres where it came from and then is still taking a new spin [on] where we want to go.”
Sink’s version of Jean Grey was introduced in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which premiered last month.
“Giving [Jean] a backstory is really important — especially given her actions in the film. She’s very flawed,” Sink, 24, told Variety of joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “You’re meeting her at a strange point, because I don’t think she is someone who wants to harm, but she herself has been harmed, so that’s all she knows. Giving her that backstory and a motive behind her actions is really powerful.”
After — spoiler alert — saving Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) from near-death, Jean left New York City on a bus where fans presumed she was en route to the X-Men school.
“I don’t really know yet, to be honest,” she quipped to the outlet of Jean’s whereabouts. “And when I say ‘I don’t know,’ I mean I really don’t know.”
