‘Game of Thrones’ Star Maisie Williams Has a Bold Pitch for Marvel’s Upcoming ‘X-Men’ Movie

Maisie Williams has spent years being defined by Arya Stark, but before ‘Game of Thrones’ ended, she took on a very different kind of mutant story in 2020’s ‘The New Mutants.’ That film, plagued by years of delays and reshoots, ultimately became one of the lowest-grossing entries in the X-Men film franchise, earning just $49.2 million worldwide against a budget reported between $67 million and $80 million.

Despite that rocky outcome, Williams’ performance as Rahne Sinclair, also known as Wolfsbane, a Scottish mutant who transforms into a wolf while wrestling with her religious upbringing, remained one of the more fondly remembered elements of an otherwise troubled production. Now, with Marvel actively building toward its own version of the X-Men within the MCU, Williams is making it clear she would welcome the chance to bring that character back.

Speaking about the possibility of a return, Williams said, “I really liked playing Rahne… We’ve got to bring that back. Maybe it’ll be 28 years after the first, but I think we should.”

That comment lands at an interesting moment for the franchise. Marvel Studios has confirmed its X-Men reboot for May 5, 2028, directed by Jake Schreier and led by Kevin Feige, with the film set to follow Jean Grey’s arrival at Professor Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. Sadie Sink has been cast as Jean Grey, with Christopher Abbott as Xavier, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Adam Driver stepping in as the villainous Mister Sinister.

The film is expected to center heavily on the first class of mutants trained by Xavier, a structure that leaves plenty of room for additional characters to be introduced as the roster expands. Whether Wolfsbane factors into that early lineup remains unknown, since Marvel has not confirmed any plans to bring the character into this new iteration.

Williams’ comments tap into a broader trend of actors from Fox’s earlier X-Men films expressing interest in returning once Marvel folds mutants fully into its main cinematic universe. With so many past X-Men adaptations now technically outside MCU continuity, there has been persistent speculation about which actors, if any, might get a second chance to play characters that didn’t get the spotlight they deserved the first time around.

For Williams specifically, revisiting Wolfsbane would offer a kind of redemption arc for a role that got lost in one of the more infamous box office disappointments in recent superhero movie history. ‘The New Mutants’ suffered from a horror-tinged reinvention of the franchise that never quite found its footing amid distributor changes and a three-year delay between filming and release.

Given how differently Marvel Studios has approached franchise-building compared to Fox’s earlier X-Men era, a Wolfsbane comeback under this new banner would come with a much different set of expectations and resources behind it. Whether that pitch gains any real traction with Marvel remains to be seen, but Williams has made her interest known just as anticipation for the new film continues building toward 2028.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.