Casting a 14 year old to play Illyana or having any teen character the right age is likely not going to happen since that's just the way casting is handled for films.
But for the full impact of how the characters changes and grow, how events impact characters and how the characters interact - that's something that is difficult to show in even 3 movies. The MCU has been able to do some of that in a long series of movies, but the Fox X-Men movies really hasn't.
A tv show might be the best route since lesser known younger, lesser known actors could be cast and there would be more time to explore character development and the connection between the characters. I'm not sure if Josh Boone's future is directing features, but he seems like a decent choice to direct a teen-oriented X-Men Disney+ show. I doubt any continuity from the Fox X-Men films (including New Mutants) would be maintained, but if Evan Peters does play Quicksilver in Wandavision, then that suggests there is openness from Disney to carry over some of the actors.
When there's actors who work very well in their roles, recasting is going to be an issue since there's enviable comparisons. If Anya is as good as Illyana in New Mutants as it seems she is, then it may be difficult for her to replaced unless there's a drastic change like a much younger Illyana. I'm not sure if any of the other actors or characters are really going to have that type of appeal.
IMO, the actors with the best chance to hold on to there role in the MCU are Anya, Maisie, and Blu. I love Henry and Charlie. Hope they stay on. I just don’t see it.
In the movie the characters are teenagers. They showed a scene where it is confirmed Dani is 16, and I presume everyone is around that age. One of the reasons they are in the institution and not prison is that they are minors.
Presumably if Magik breaks out and they decide to bring her into the MCU like through the Dr. Strange movies the age thing wouldn't be an issue. She'd be a nebulous 'young person' who could be in her teens or early 20s. Casting people in their mid-to-late 20s as teenagers is very common in Hollywood. Tom Welling was supposed to be 14 in the first season of Smallville and he looked like he was 25 since he was just about 25. Andrew Garfield at 25 was playing an 11th-grade Peter Parker.
The ages of the actors could be an issue if they want to make sequels, but it's 99% certain that there will be no sequels.
The question I have with Maisie is if there might be other MCU roles for her since Rahne isn't necessarily a character who fits a larger role unless it's expanded especially the Rahne/Dany romance. She still could play a teenager but there's always questions about if she will be able to transiting to adult roles considering she's so tiny and doesn't have traditional lead actress looks. She's getting more into behind the scenes work anyway (I think she has more in projects development than Benioff and Weiss).
I thought there was something up since last year at SDCC since Maisie was spotted around MCU Phase 4 panel even though the GOT panel was the previous day, but maybe that was just there to support Florence Pugh and Richard Madden.
video behind scene
2,20 minute
Last edited by juan678; 08-04-2020 at 08:11 AM.
Does Disney have a bad track record with featuring LGBTIQ+ ?
I thought they were making strides with representation...
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51871026
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...ritic-n1156606
https://screenrant.com/disney-lgbt-c...vies-tv-shows/
Or is the "started by a different studio" more the issue? Because in that case the whole prospect of carrying ANY of the actors/characters from NEW MUTANTS over to the MCU proper is a non-starter.
hopefully someone much more talented than me will digitally recreate that Soul Sword handle so it can be 3D printed...
new tv spot
Depends on how it's handled. Disney execs may want to balance diversity with not rocking the boat too much with their main audience. The relationship being established outside of the MCU and having the characters appear in the background without major roles so they can check off the box that they had LGBT representation? Maybe.