Jessica Chastain In Talks to Join X-Men: Dark Phoenix Cast

The latest casting news for Fox’s upcoming X-Men film confirms the long-running rumors that the series is about to get cosmic.

Jessica Chastain is in talks join X-Men: Dark Phoenix as Princess Lilandra (Marvel), the leader of the Shi’ar Empire, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This development would reunite Chastain with James McAvoy, whom she starred alongside in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. This would be Chastain’s first major role in a superhero film as well as the first time the popular X-Men characters would appear in a movie.

The Shi’ar were originally created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont in the writer’s epic run on the series and became prominent fixtures ever since. They are integral to the Dark Phoenix Saga comic books and have frequently popped up in various Marvel series over the years.

The rumors that the latest X-Men movie would adopt a cosmic approach have been rampant ever since the working title of “Supernova” initially popped up. The X-Men have had many space-faring adventures over the course of their publishing history, and the films have yet to venture toward the stars.

It makes sense that their second crack at adapting the Phoenix storyline would be more traditional in line with the comic series while incorporating some of the most beloved characters from the source material.

In the comics, Princess Lilandra and Charles Xavier eventually fall in love and even get married. Their romance is often mired with issues, including an annulment after Xavier’s twin sister Cassandra Nova steals his body and terrorizes the Empire, killing countless and even driving Lilandra insane.

Angelina Jolie was also rumored to take on the role, but Jeff Sneider of the Tracking Board doubted that development in the same Tweet that he first supposed Chastain would come on board.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is scheduled to begin filming this year with Sophie Turner and McAvoy reprising their roles as Jean Grey and Xavier respectively.

It was recently announced that Simon Kinberg would be directing the project, having produced and written many X-Men films prior to this turn as director.