It's no secret that 20th Century Fox is aiming to extend their lucrative and entertaining X-Men movie franchise into the foreseeable future thanks to the addition of relatively young newcomers in X-Men: Apocalypse. The 80s era film from Bryan Singer introduces Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, Lana Condor as Jubilee, and Ben Hardy as Angel. But while the new generation of heroes is set to take on the mantle of the X-Men, a member of a pervious generation isn't ready to give up the title.

Famke Janssen, famously introduced as Jean Grey in Singer's original X-Men films, has played the psychic (and occasional psychopath) in four X-Men movies and The Wolverine. Another way to put it, Janssen hasn't appeared in only X-Men: First Class or the newest installment. Janssen wants to rectify that last fact, which she talked about in a chat with EW Radio.


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Here's what Janssen had to say about Turner taking on a younger version of Jean Grey:

“She emailed me before she started filming wanting some pointers. And I said, ‘You don’t need any. You’re perfect. You’re great.’ So I can’t wait to see the movie and what she’s done with it. I’m actually really excited about it.”

At least Janssen is being professional about a younger actress stepping in to take over a role she made famous, which is more than can be said of a lot of folks in Hollywood. However, it seems like she has a hard time letting go of Grey. Here's her take on the presumed age-ism and "sexism" inherent in the X-Men films:

“And it's not the first time, obviously, that it’s happened. In the X-Men series, they’ve been doing this for years. Although women, it’s interesting because they’re replaced, and the older versions – or more mature, whatever the politically correct version of that is – are never to be seen again. Whereas the men are allowed to be both ages. Sexism. I think that I should be back along with my younger version and the way that we’ve seen it with Magneto and Professor X.”


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Image via 20th Century Fox

On one hand, sure, I'd be fine with seeing Janssen appear alongside Patrick Stewart's Xavier and Ian McKellen's Magneto one last time. On the other hand, the story has to justify it, not just the actor's opinion. And Janssen is far from the only one being replaced by a younger version of the same character: Nicholas Hoult's Beast was formerly played by Kelsey Grammer, and James Marsden's Cyclops, Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler, Ben Foster's Angel, and Halle Berry's Storm have also been replaced. The franchise has been surprisingly kind to both the earlier and the future versions of their characters, but Janssen doesn't appear to mention that.

Would you like to see Janssen's Jean Grey appear one last time? Or do you think it's better to focus on "out with the old and in with the new?" Let us know in the comments below!

For more on all things X-Men, take a look at some of our recent coverage below:


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Image via 20th Century Fox

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