THE NEW MUTANTS
Maisie Williams in Superhero Horror
In The New Mutants, a spin off of the X-Men series, five young mutants, just discovering their powers, have to fight to escape a secret facility in which they are being held captive. The film stars Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane: a Scottish girl from a strict religious upbringing who not only is discovering her powers but her sexuality when she falls in love with fellow mutant Mirage, Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma.) as Ilyana Rasputin/Magik: a Russian sorceress with the power of teleportation, and Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball: an American teen who has the ability to propel himself into the air. They are joined by relative newcomers Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage: a Native American illusionist, and Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa / Sunspot: a Brazillian teen who has the power to manipulate solar energy.
In addition to being a superhero horror film, the movie’s writer/director, Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), has also described it as a character driven piece, particularly in regards to the LGBT romance between Wolfsbane and Mirage who have a telepathic connection with one another. The movie was initially intended to be the first film in a trilogy, but Boone has said that is unlikely now due to Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
The New Mutants is currently scheduled to be released August 28. 2020. However, the film’s release has been postponed several times over the last couple of years. It was first slated for release on April 13, 2018, before being pushed to February 22, 2019 to avoid going up against Deadpool 2. Then, it was pushed back again to August 2, 2019 to avoid Dark Phoenix. After Disney acquired Fox, the release was delayed until April 3, 2020. And finally, due to the coronavirus, it was pulled from the April slate and moved to where it is now in August. Only time will tell if we will actually get to see this X-Men spin-off on August 28.
