If everything had gone to plan, then we’d be enjoying The New Mutants, the first of three intended X-Men movies from Fox this year, next month. However, extremely late in the day, the spinoff was pulled from the schedule and pushed back a whole ten months until 2019. Now, the pic is going back in front of the cameras for some apparently significant reshoots. So significant, in fact, that a major character is reportedly being added into the story.
THR previously revealed that “a new character” was being inserted into The New Mutants during this renewed period of production. They didn’t give any specifics though and as the team has had an ever-changing roster in the comics, the possibilities for who it could be were endless.
Now, though, Screen Rant has gone ahead and made a pretty compelling case for who the most likely suspect is: Warlock, a techno-organic alien who befriends the group in the source material.
First off, they note that Warlock debuts on the page in “The Demon Bear Saga,” which director Josh Boone has said will be a major influence on his movie. What’s more, Warlock was originally teased to be one of the main characters of the film in its early stages. Notices were even put out for a motion capture actor to portray him. However, once the film went in front of the cameras, all references to Warlock dried up. It’s possible though that now that The New Mutants is undergoing a major reshuffle, the character’s been reinserted into the narrative.
Screen Rant has even theorized that Warlock could play a very sizeable part in the pic. Boone has promised that Demon Bear won’t be the main antagonist of the story, so that role could potentially be filled by the Technarch, Warlock’s belligerent race, instead. As they feed on someone’s “lifeglow,” they’re somewhat like sci-fi vampires, which would fit with the “superhero horror movie” edge that the project’s going for.
Chalk this all up as speculation for now, but it’s definitely a convincing theory and we’ll be eagerly awaiting more information as The New Mutants continues on with its reshoots ahead of its February 22nd, 2019 release.