X-Men: Apocalypse continues to add great young talent to play new mutants. Last month, the movie found its Cyclops (Mud's Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner), and Storm (House of Anubis' Alexandra Shipp). Now it has its Nightcrawler.
Last night, director Bryan Singer posted the following on his Instagram page:
Excited to welcome @kodismitmcphee to the cast of #XmenApocalypse as young #Nightcrawler. @alexvaughanphoto A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on
Nightcrawler is an exciting addition to the cast because he's a great character, although it will be interesting to see how Singer chooses to portray him.
Singer is in a unique position where he can have a do-over on his own characters. He never really got Storm right, and while Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler in X2 is great, it barely has any of the lighthearted spirit of the character in the comic. X-Men: Apocalypse can change these portrayals since the new timeline basically scraps everything after 1973.
For those who are unfamiliar with Nightcrawler, the blue-skinned character is extremely agile (due in part to his tail) and has the ability to teleport, which makes a "BAMF" sound when he disappears or reappears.
Last year, Singer said he wanted to reintroduce Nightcrawler and Gambit, so he's halfway home in that regard. Channing Tatum is set to play Gambit, but there's no confirmation on whether or not he'll appear in Apocalypse. Tatum has a busy year as he's shooting the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar!, Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, and doing press for Magic Mike XXL. However, Fox has set Gambit for October 7, 2016, so presumably the character has some presence in Apocalypse.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens May 27, 2016, and also stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicolas Hoult, Evan Peters, Ian McKellen, Rose Byrne, and Oscar Isaac.