Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton is joining the X-Men family.
The actor, who plays brooding outsider Jonathan Bryers on the Netflix phenomenon, is in negotiations to join the cast of Fox’s New Mutants.
The Witch and Split star Anya Taylor-Joy and Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams have already signed up for the ensemble young adult superhero movie being directed by Josh Boone. Rosario Dawson is also in negotiations to join the cast.
Heaton will play Sam Guthrie, also known as Cannonball, a teen who propels himself into the air and is invulnerable while doing so.
Taylor-Joy will play Illyana Rasputin, code-named Magik, a girl who has learned sorcery and uses teleportation discs to travel. Williams will portray Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane, a girl struggling to reconcile her religious beliefs with her power to turn into a wolf. Dawson is to play a mentor figure, a medical doctor who has the ability to generate a protective biofield around herself.
The studio is looking to redefine the superhero genre as it did with Deadpool and Logan, and is focusing on giving the spinoff a horror-thriller bent. It will tell of a diverse cadre of teens learning to cope with their superpowers. The group also includes Native American Danielle Moonstar and a Brazilian ladies man code-named Sunspot, as well as an alien named Warlock. These new mutants find themselves held in a secret facility against their will and must battle the dangers of their powers, as well as the sins of their past.
New Mutants has a release date of April 13, 2018. Boone and his writing partner, Knate Lee, wrote the script for the project, which is set to shoot in July in Boston.
Heaton was one of the breakout stars of Stranger Things, and New Mutants marks the first feature project he’s signed on for since the show debuted. The actor starred in two films, the thriller Shut In with Naomi Watts and the Sundance indie As You Are, which were made prior to Stranger Things.
Heaton is repped by Gersh.
