Jennifer Lawrence Says She’s Leaving ‘X-Men’ After ‘Apocalypse’
Jennifer Lawrencewill be down one major franchise afterThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2opens later this year, and now it seems she’ll be down another after next year. The actress confirmed that 2016’sX-Men: Apocalypsewill be her last turn as shapeshifting mutant Mystique.
Read the Jennifer LawrenceX-Mencomments after the jump.
Lawrence spilled the news while chatting withMTV. Asked whetherApocalypsemight be her lastX-Menmovie, Lawrence responded in unequivocal terms: “It is my last one, actually. Yes.”
The actress did not elaborate on why she’d be leaving the franchise. Along withNicholas Hoult,James McAvoy, andMichael Fassbender, Lawrence has been a core member of theX-Mencast since 2011’sFirst Class. Producers have publicly floated the idea of doing a Mystique spinoff with her, but she has never actually been confirmed for moreX-Menfilms beyondApocalypse.
It’s possible that Lawrence simply meant she doesn’t have any plans to returnfor now.X-Men: Apocalypsehasn’t even begun shooting, so there’s still time for her to change her mind. Plus, actors have been known to make noises about leaving as a way to negotiate for more money.
Assuming we can take her comments at face value, though, they’re not terribly surprising. BetweenX-MenandThe Hunger Games, she’s done more than her share of big studio franchise films. Meanwhile, she’s still at the top of the casting wishlist for… well, pretty much any project ever. LeavingX-Menwould free her up to pursue other kinds of films.
AndX-Men: Apocalypseseems like a natural end for Lawrence’s Mystique. WriterSimon Kinberghaspreviously saidhe envisions Apocalypse as a way to “complete the trilogy we began withFirst Class– to complete the stories of young Raven, young Hank, younger Charles and Erik.”
At the same time, the film is introducing a bunch of new characters (or rather, if you want to be pedantic about it, new versions of familiar characters) including Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). There’s a good chance thatApocalypsewill serve as a transition, and that these new stars will serve as the core cast moving forward.
But that’s just speculation. For now, Fox has yet to confirm plans for any moreX-Menfilms afterApocalypse. It does, however, have concrete plans to keep the franchise going with Wolverine, Deadpool, and Gambit spinoffs.
X-Men: ApocalypseopensMay 27, 2016, withBryan Singerreturning to direct. Will you be sorry to see Lawrence’s Mystique go, or are you glad to see her move on to bigger and better things?
