Jake Schreier Says His ‘X-Men’ Movie Will Break New Ground -Here’s What He’s Pulling from the Comics

Marvel’s mutant reboot has finally moved past the casting-rumor phase and into something fans have been craving for months: actual creative insight into how director Jake Schreier plans to bring the X-Men to life. After a summer defined largely by speculation about who would play which mutant, D23 gave fans their first real glimpse into the philosophy shaping the film itself.

That shift in tone matters given just how much comic book history the X-Men carry with them. Few Marvel properties have shifted as dramatically across different eras of publication, meaning the specific source material a filmmaker chooses to draw from can define an entire cinematic take on the team.

Speaking to GMA following the D23 reveal, Schreier confirmed that his ‘X-Men’ film will include a lot of things never done before for the franchise on screen. “Digging into those comics like the Chris Claremont run and the newer Jonathan Hickman stuff,” Schreier said in the interview, “there are so many stories that are still untold.”

That comment builds on remarks Schreier made earlier this year to Collider, where he first revealed he’d been immersing himself in Chris Claremont’s legendary ‘Uncanny X-Men’ run while shaping the project. Claremont wrote the characters for sixteen years, from 1975 to 1991, defining the team during what’s widely considered its most influential creative era.

The mention of Jonathan Hickman’s work adds an intriguing new layer to that inspiration. Hickman spearheaded the ‘Dawn of X’ relaunch between 2019 and 2021, a bold reimagining that introduced the Krakoan Age and fundamentally reshaped how mutants govern themselves and interact with the wider world in the comics.

Pulling from both eras suggests Schreier isn’t interested in a straightforward retelling of any single X-Men storyline audiences have already seen adapted before. Instead, blending Claremont’s foundational character work with Hickman’s more radical, world-building approach hints at a film aiming to feel genuinely fresh rather than simply rehashing Fox’s earlier cinematic take on the team.

Schreier has been consistent in emphasizing that theme throughout the film’s development. Speaking previously to MovieWeb, he described the project as aiming for “a fresh start” for the franchise, noting that Kevin Feige had specifically pushed the creative team to explore what’s possible within the X-Men’s massive comic book history rather than defaulting to familiar territory.

The director also brought on ‘Beef’ creator Lee Sung Jin and ‘The Bear’ co-showrunner Joanna Calo to work on the screenplay, a writing team he’s expressed genuine excitement about reassembling. Their involvement adds another layer of creative pedigree to a project already carrying significant expectations after Schreier’s success directing ‘Thunderbolts*’.

The comments arrive on the heels of Marvel’s massive D23 cast reveal, which confirmed Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, and Adam Driver as the villainous Nathaniel Milbury. That announcement also came paired with the film’s first official logo and a confirmed release date of May 5, 2028.

With two such distinct and influential eras of X-Men comics now confirmed as creative touchstones, fans have plenty of new material to speculate about heading into the film’s eventual full plot reveal. Whether Schreier draws more heavily from Claremont’s character-driven storytelling or Hickman’s ambitious mutant nation-building remains one of the biggest open questions surrounding the project.

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