Every Dafne Keen Movie & TV Series, Ranked

When Dafne Keen first appeared in theaters in 2017, she delivered a performance that fundamentally altered the trajectory of the superhero genre. Audiences went into Logan expecting a violent farewell to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but they left talking about the ferocious child who matched his intensity scene for scene. Keen’s portrayal of Laura, also known as X-23, was a revelation of physical acting and raw emotional depth that is rarely seen in child actors. Even more impressive, she managed to convey a lifetime of trauma and rage without speaking for the majority of the film’s runtime. This role instantly established her as a serious talent capable of holding her own against industry veterans, creating a massive fanbase that clamored for her return for years. That patience was finally rewarded in 2024 when she donned the sunglasses once again in the massive blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine.

However, reducing Keen’s career to a single Marvel character does a disservice to her impressive career. Since her breakout, she has steadily built a resume that spans prestigious television dramas, independent character studies, and other massive franchise properties. Her career trajectory shows no signs of slowing down in 2025, as she is set to portray the goddess Artemis in the upcoming third season of Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Before she takes her place on Mount Olympus, it is the perfect time to look back at the projects that defined her rise to stardom.

6) The Refugees

Before she was slicing through mercenaries with adamantium claws, Dafne Keen made her screen debut in the ambitious sci-fi drama The Refugees. This co-production between the BBC and Spanish network Atresmedia serves as a fascinating origin point for her career because it highlights her bilingual abilities and her natural comfort in front of the camera. The series takes place in a small rural community that is suddenly overwhelmed by a massive influx of people fleeing from a devastating future. Keen plays Ani, a young girl caught in the middle of this temporal crisis. While the show itself received mixed reviews for its pacing and complex plotting, it provided Keen with her first opportunity to work alongside her real-life father, Will Keen. Watching The Refugees now offers a glimpse of the raw potential that casting directors would soon recognize on a global scale. Even at a very young age, Keen displayed a watchful intensity that grounded the high-concept science fiction premise in genuine human emotion.

5) Ana

The 2020 comedy-drama Ana allowed Keen to step away from blockbuster spectacles and stretch her muscles in a character-driven road trip movie. In the film, she stars as the titular character who forms an unlikely alliance with Rafa (Andy Garcia), a financially struggling used car salesman. The two embark on a journey across Puerto Rico to save him from bankruptcy and help her find her father, developing a heartwarming dynamic along the way. This film is essential viewing for fans because it proves Keen can handle dialogue-heavy scenes and comedic beats just as well as action sequences. The chemistry between the two leads elevates the material above a standard road trip narrative, turning it into a charming exploration of found family.

4) The Acolyte

Joining the Star Wars universe is a daunting task for any actor, yet Keen stepped into the galaxy far, far away with absolute confidence in The Acolyte. Cast as the alien Padawan Jecki Lon, she underwent a significant physical transformation involving extensive makeup and prosthetics that completely obscured her recognizable features. Despite these layers, her performance shone through as she portrayed a disciplined and highly skilled Jedi-in-training serving under Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae). The role required a different kind of physicality than her Marvel work, demanding the precision and grace of a lightsaber duelist rather than the feral brawling of a mutant. Still, Jecki quickly became a fan-favorite character because Keen balanced the stoicism of the Jedi Order with the subtle anxieties of a young student trying to prove herself in a dangerous galaxy. While The Acolyte itself was polarizing, Keen’s performance was widely praised as a standout element that added emotional weight to the tragic downfall of the Jedi during the High Republic era.

3) His Dark Materials

Carrying the weight of a massive literary adaptation is a heavy burden, but Keen shouldered it effortlessly as Lyra Belacqua in His Dark Materials. Over three seasons, she brought Philip Pullman’s iconic protagonist to life, growing from a precocious child running through the halls of Jordan College into a young woman challenging the authority of Heaven itself. The series allowed audiences to watch her mature as an actress in real time, navigating complex themes of theology, adolescence, and corruption. Her on-screen chemistry with Ruth Wilson, who played the terrifying Mrs. Coulter, served as the emotional anchor of the entire show. Their scenes together were electric battles of will that shifted constantly between maternal affection and deadly manipulation. Keen understood the stubbornness and bravery that define Lyra, ensuring that the character remained the beating heart of a story filled with armored bears and parallel worlds.

2) Deadpool & Wolverine

The return of Dafne Keen as Laura in Deadpool & Wolverine was one of the most celebrated moments of the 2024 cinematic calendar. Years after her debut, she stepped back into the role that made her famous, but she brought a new level of maturity and wisdom to the character. No longer the silent child, this version of Laura served as the conscience of the film, delivering a pivotal campfire speech that helps Logan (Hugh Jackman) find his heroism again. Because of that, Keen showed that X-23 had grown into a warrior who had found peace and purpose. The film also respected her history with Jackman, allowing them to share the screen in a way that felt like a genuine evolution of their relationship from 2017. Finally, her action scenes were as brutal and exciting as fans hoped, confirming that she had not lost a step in the interim.

1) Logan

Logan remains the undisputed peak of Dafne Keen’s filmography and stands as one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. At just eleven years old, Keen held her own against Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman, two actors who had inhabited their Marvel roles for nearly two decades. Director James Mangold utilized her natural intensity to create a character who was a weapon first and a child second, forcing the audience to witness the tragedy of her existence. The chemistry she built with Jackman formed the emotional spine of the narrative, transforming a violent western into a touching story about fatherhood and redemption. In addition, the final scene, where she turns the cross on the grave to an X, is an iconic piece of cinema history that rests entirely on her shoulders. Logan is the movie that announced her arrival to the world, and it remains a perfect synthesis of her physical talents and dramatic instincts.

Which of Dafne Keen’s roles is your favorite? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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