Marvel's X-Men Reboot Writer Shortlist Reportedly Revealed

Rafe Judkins and Michael Lesslie are reportedly being eyed for the MCU's X-Men movie.

By Jenna Anderson

Marvel's merry mutants might be one step closer to joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On Thursday night, a report from Jeff Sneider indicated that Marvel Studios is currently in the process of finding a writer for its forthcoming X-Men reboot. According to the report, two of the finalists for the X-Men job are Rafe Judkins and Michael Lesslie, although it is unclear at this point if there are more names in contention. A decision is reportedly expected to be made by Memorial Day weekend. 

Judkins is known for multiple film and television projects, including being a supervising producer on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a showrunner on Amazon's The Wheel of Time, and the showrunner on its forthcoming God of War series. He also co-wrote Sony's Uncharted movie, as well as the upcoming adaptation of The Division. Lesslie, meanwhile, most recently co-wrote The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Now You See Me 3. He was one of the reported finalists to showrun Warner Bros.' upcoming Harry Potter television series. 

When Will the X-Men Join the MCU?

The biggest showcase of Marvel's merry mutants in the MCU will be this year's Deadpool & Wolverine, which will see the return of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as Deadpool and Wolverine. Beyond that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has teased that the X-Men are arriving sooner than later.

"You know how much I love the X-Men," Feige explained in a 2021 interview. "I already said that's where I started. I can't tell you anything before we actually announced it, but rest assured, the discussions have been long and ongoing internally."

Is X-Men '97 Part of the MCU?

This news comes as Marvel Studios' recent X-Men adaptation, the Disney+ animated series X-Men '97, is about to wrap up its first season. The series, which continues the lore previously established by X-Men: The Animated Series, is not set in the same universe of the MCU, but has had a handful of larger Marvel connections. 

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"The X-Men show, the OG show, was the MCU before the MCU became 'The MCU' right?" X-Men '97 supervising director Jake Castorena previously told ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast. "And, certain things that being a spiritual successor, a revival, that the show had ingrained in its DNA, we got to have that ingrained in our DNA too. Cameos were a big thing. The expansion of the MCU overall, of the characters, the side stories, the many derivatives of books that came out from the team, that's all ingrained in the show."

Marvel's X-Men reboot does not currently have a release date.

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