Logan Star Dafne Keen Confirms Fox Had Plans for X-23 Spinoff

The X-Men movie franchise might have ended with the lackluster releases of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, but many fans loved Logan for the coda it provided on Wolverine and Professor Xavier’s journeys after nearly two decades on screen. And while people were clamoring for a sequel featuring X-23 starring Logan‘s breakout actress Dafne Keen, those plans didn’t come to fruition before Fox and its franchises were ultimately sold to Disney, bringing the X-Men under the purview of Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. But what about those plans for an X-23 spinoff?

It turns out that Fox was in talks to make a movie featuring Keen’s character of Laura AKA X-23. The actress herself confirmed these discussions while promoting the new season of His Dark Materials on HBO.

“I got told by some people at Fox that there might be another one, but this was ages ago when we were filming, and they haven’t contacted me ever again,” Keen explained during an interview with Elle. “I feel like we’re just at the beginning, there’s more to be told, and it’s a relay race. I come into play when they’ve already written and done pre-production and decided on doing the film, so as soon as they say, ‘go,’ I’ll happily go whenever.”

While many fans would love to see Keen’s return as Wolverine’s successor, there’s no word on what Marvel Studios has planned for the X-Men franchise. A reboot of the series seems inevitable, taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there are possibilities of some actors reprising their roles from the Fox flicks.

We already know Jamie Foxx will once again be playing Electro in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, which could feature some multiversal shenanigans with Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch playing a role. There’s also the possibility of Fox’s X-Men making a jump to the MCU with Evan Peters playing a role in the upcoming WandaVision — Peters played the fan-favorite version of Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, while Aaron Taylor Johnson played a different version of the same character in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Other actors have expressed a desire to return to the franchise, but many of them have moved on. It seems like there’s a prevailing understanding that Marvel Studios is taking the X-Men in a new direction without them, as expressed by Cyclops actor Tye Sheridan.

“I think it depends a lot on the circumstances and the situation, who’s involved, and, but of course, I think that the X-Men stands for something that’s really meaningful, you know? And, it’s about, you know, it’s largely about a group of people who haven’t been accepted by society and I think that that still has a lot of resonance in our culture today, in society today and that was, for me, I think that’s why we all love the X-Men,” Sheridan explained on ComicBook.com’s Talking Shop. “They’re cool movies and they have cool characters with super powers but also there are a lot of deeper themes and messages in that franchise that I really appreciate and respect. So as long as we were staying in that realm, you know, of course, I would be open to working and reprising my role further.”

Hopefully we learn more about Marvel’s plans for the X-Men on the big screen very soon.