Director Josh Boone Explains How THE NEW MUTANTS Was Changed By X-MEN: APOCALYPSE's Failure

When X-Men: Apocalypse was released, Fox and director Josh Boone were in the middle of developing the movie The New Mutants. It turns out that The New Mutants was originally going to be set in the same timeline as Apocalypse in the ‘80s. The movie was also going to include Storm and Professor X, but that all changed after Apocalypse bombed.

During a recent interview with /Film, Boone explained why the studio’s reaction to X-Men: Apocalypse led to some big changes to his New Mutants movie:

"They really did want it to be different than other stuff. They really pushed us to keep it separate from X-Men stuff, even though it’s set in the X-Men universe. We had early drafts that were supposed to be in the same timeline as [X-Men:] Apocalypse, so it was originally going to be set in the ’80s. Originally, Professor X and Storm were in it, and Storm very much played the Alice Braga role.

"Over the course of months, a new studio head came in, they said they didn’t want any X-Men movies to take place in the past anymore, as if that was the reason that Apocalypse was bad. [laughs] So we were put in the position where we kind of rewrote it to be set now in a nebulous [point in time], because nobody knew how the movies had turned out. Dark Phoenix wasn’t out yet. Yeah, it’s there – they talk about Professor X and those things, but it doesn’t have cameos from anyone or anything like that."

Well, in the end, it’s a good thing that those changes were made and that The New Mutants is a standalone film that’s not really connected to any of the past X-Men films. I do find it interesting that Storm was going to take the place of Alice Braga's Dr. Cecilia Reyes, as it's believed that character is the film’s main villain. But, changes were made to the story, we’ll just have to wait and see how that story plays out.

“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 cast for the film includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik, Charlie Heaton as Cannonball, Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane, Henry Zaga as Sunspot, and Blu Hunt as fallen Mirage.

The New Mutants is coming to theaters on August 28th.