'New Mutants' Reportedly Undergoing Reshoots to Insert a New Character

If all had gone according to plan, the release of X-Men spinoff The New Mutants into theaters would be less than two months away. Instead, after a series of test screenings, the film was pushed back to a new 2019 release date.

We now have a sense of what is taking place in the intervening months. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The New Mutants will undergo a series of reshoots that will add an additional character to the film's lineup.

Who could this character be? The most obvious answer would be Warlock, a longtime member of the New Mutants who joined not too long after the team first formed. Rather than a mutant – at least in the traditional, Earth-born sense – Warlock is a member of a shapeshifting race called the Technarchy. Technarchy survive by infecting living organisms with a techno-organic virus and then draining that being's life energy. Warlock possesses an unusual amount of compassion for one of his species, and refused to consume sentient beings, often leaving the distinction up to his teammate, Danielle Moonstar.

Warlock's alien appearance and shape-shifting nature suggest that he would likely be a computer-generated character. This may make it easier for him to be inserted into The New Mutants in post-production.

Director Josh Boone has stated previously that he planned to hold off on introducing Warlock until later in his planned trilogy of New Mutants movies.

"We brought it to Fox as a trilogy of films, really all based on that long run by [Bill] Sienkiewicz, and kind of incorporates some stuff from later issues in the '80s," Boone said. "These are all going to be horror movies, and they're all be their own distinct kind of horror movies. This is certainly the 'rubber-reality' supernatural horror movie. The next one will be a completely different kind of horror movie. Our take was just go examine the horror genre through comic book movies and make each one its own distinct sort of horror film. Drawing from the big events that we love in the comics."

Another, arguably less likely possibility would be the insertion of Kitty Pryde. Kitty was notably younger than her X-Men teammates when she joined the group, and Professor X suggested she should be moved into the New Mutants class once that group was formed. Kitty resented the notion and her stint with the New Mutants was very brief. A similarly brief tenure with the New Mutants could be used to set up the Kitty Pryde movie that Fox is reportedly developing.

The New Mutants is scheduled for release on February 22, 2019. Other upcoming X-Men movies include Deadpool 2 on May 18th, X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2nd, and Gambit on June 7, 2019.