Next year will see the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and director Simon Kinberg has repeatedly gone on record offering his assurances that he’s learned from the mistakes of X-Men: The Last Stand in adapting the popular comic book storyline. What’s more, it turns out that the longtime X-Men producer and writer isn’t the only one involved in the 2006 movie who thinks the journey of Jean Grey could’ve been handled better.
Famke Janssen played the telekinetic mutant for the franchise’s first three installments, and in an interview with Inverse, the actress remarked that the final entry in this initial trilogy didn’t give the Dark Phoenix saga the screen time it deserved.
“I’m glad that the Dark Phoenix saga is finally getting its due. When we tackled it in The Last Stand, it wasn’t given enough time. I remember hearing from fans after we finished the film that they were disappointed that an enormous moment in the comics was given so little screen time. I’m happy for them to give Phoenix the due that she deserves.”
After the overstuffed Last Stand left the X-Men universe in a messy state, 2014’s Days of Future Past essentially erased the movie from the series continuity with its time travel storyline, paving the way for Dark Phoenix to make a second attempt at getting Jean’s story right.
Nonetheless, in the wake of 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, it seems that both fans and critics are once more losing their enthusiasm for the series, with many suggesting that the franchise is due for a reboot. Kinberg, however, has recently argued that his next film is just the beginning of a new chapter for the saga, explaining how Dark Phoenix will bring the property in a different direction tonally.
We’ll find out if the new film can succeed where X-Men: The Last Stand floundered when Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7th, 2019, but either way, there’s a good chance that the impending Disney/Fox deal will lead to a franchise reset regardless.