The New Mutants is a 2020 American superhero horror film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the New Mutants. It is a spin-off film in the X-Men film series and the thirteenth and final installment overall. The film was directed by Josh Boone from a screenplay he wrote with Knate Lee, and stars Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, and Alice Braga. In the film, a group of young mutants held in a secret facility fight to save themselves.
Boone and Lee first began work on the film after Boone completed The Fault in Our Stars (2014). The pair pitched a potential film trilogy to X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, and in May 2015 they were officially signed on to the project. Taylor-Joy and Williams were rumored to be cast in March 2016 and were confirmed over a year later when the rest of the cast filled out. Filming took place in Boston, Massachusetts, from July to September 2017, primarily at Medfield State Hospital, with the release date of April 13, 2018 in mind. The film was then delayed while reshoots were planned to be done and Disney began the process of acquiring production company 20th Century Fox. After the acquisition was completed, Boone returned to work on the film, and it was completed without reshoots in March 2020.
The New Mutants was theatrically released in the United States on August 28, 2020, by 20th Century Studios. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed in the box-office, grossing $49.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $67–80 million, becoming the lowest-grossing film in the X-Men film series overall.
Plot Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, a young Cheyenne Native American, is hidden in a tree by her father as her entire reservation is devastated by a tornado, leaving her the only survivor. After falling unconscious, Dani awakens in an oddly empty hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes, who comforts Dani, explaining that she is not an ordinary human being but, rather, has unique mutant DNA, and she advises her to remain in the hospital until she learns the effects and how to control them.
Dani is introduced to four other teenagers, Samuel "Sam" Guthrie, Illyana Rasputin, Roberto "Bobby" da Costa, and Rahne Sinclair, who also possess superhuman abilities due to their DNA mutations. Reyes, who can manipulate plasma-energy barriers, has brought them to the hospital, after they have each either experienced or accidentally caused a tragedy. Sam can generate energy around his body to fly at jet speed and render himself temporarily nigh-invulnerable. After his powers manifested, he accidentally collapsed a coal mine, killing his father and coworkers in the process. Roberto, who can emit and manipulate furnace-like heat, accidentally burned his girlfriend to death while they were swimming. Rahne can transform into a wolf or wolf-human hybrid with enhanced senses. She escaped her devoutly Catholic village after killing the priest who called her a witch. Illyana has interdimensional sorcery powers and gone away from being sexually abused when she was little.
During her first day, where Illyana implies there is nothing stopping her, Dani attempts to escape, but is stopped by a force field created by Reyes surrounding the entire hospital grounds. Further frustrated from Illyana's harshness and still grieving the loss of her family, Dani plans to kill herself but is prevented by Rahne. The two become friends and later date, but Illyana antagonizes Dani, who discovers that Illyana has a hand puppet of a purple dragon called Lockheed. The five teenagers all believe they are being trained to join the X-Men, hence the strict supervision. Reyes warns them that they are considered dangerous and should not leave until they have mastered their abilities. The group experiences visions of their past tragedies, one of which results in Rahne getting branded in the shower by the same priest whom she had previously murdered. During this, Dani undergoes a neural test, inadvertently discovering Reyes's true intentions and seeing the future. Both Illyana and Reyes deduce that the visions are the result of Dani's powers manifesting themselves: the ability physically manifest the greatest fears and darkest secrets from a person's mind into reality as tangible illusions. Reyes consults her employers, the Essex Corporation, who instruct her to collect Dani's DNA and then liquidate her.
As Reyes straps her to a gurney, Dani's panic causes her powers to go haywire. Illyana and Sam are attacked by physical manifestations of Illyana's childhood abusers – monstrous humanoid creatures called the "Smiling Men" – while Roberto, who was attacked by a Smiling Man, tries in vain to break through the hospital's outer barrier, which has shrunken. Rahne, who had been suspicious of Reyes's next "procedure", arrives in half-wolf form and attacks Reyes, forcing her to flee. The five regroup in Reyes's office and realize that she was training them to become killers and that, to escape, they must kill her to deprive the barrier of its power source. They find and confront Reyes, who warns them that Dani is too powerful and will destroy them all due to the lack of control over her power.
Reyes restricts them all with barriers and tries again to kill Dani by asphyxiating her inside a barrier, which unleashes the Demon Bear, a manifestation of Dani's own fears and the true cause of her reservation's destruction. Reyes is devoured and Dani is rendered unconscious. Rahne tries to reach Dani's subconscious and urges her to wake up, while Illyana uses her powers to travel to her "special place", an alternate dimension, where she retrieves a glowing sword (Soulsword), armor, and a small, physical manifestation of Lockheed to battle the Demon Bear. Dani is visited by her father's spirit, who encourages her to face her fear. She awakens and then confronts the Demon Bear, calming and dissipating it. As day breaks, the group leaves the now-unshielded facility to find the nearest town.
Cast Maisie Williams as Rahne Grace Sinclair / Wolfsbane:A Scottish mutant who can turn into a wolf and is struggling to reconcile this with her religious beliefs. Williams was persuaded to join the film after discussing the character's religious background with director Josh Boone, who identified with the comic book character due to his own strict religious upbringing. Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina / Magik:A Russian mutant with sorcery powers, she can manifest the Soulsword and use teleportation discs to travel. Illyana is the enigmatic sister of Colossus, a member of the X-Men seen in previous films in the series. She has a purple dragon companion from another dimension, named Lockheed. Colbi Gannett portrays Illyana as a child. Charlie Heaton as Samuel Zachary "Sam" Guthrie / Cannonball: An American mutant from the state of Kentucky who can propel himself into the air, and is invulnerable while doing so. Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes: A strict mentor to the group and a medical doctor who can generate protective fields. Blu Hunt as Danielle "Dani" Moonstar / Mirage:A Native American mutant who can create illusions based on the fears and desires of other people. She can possibly see the future as well. The film includes a love story between Rahne and Dani, which Williams felt was a natural extension of the comic book characters having a telepathic connection. Boone described this as "the spine and focus" of the film's "character-driven stuff". Henry Zaga as Roberto "Bobby" da Costa / Sunspot: A Brazilian mutant who can manipulate solar energy. Adam Beach as William Lonestar: Dani's father of Cheyenne descent. Thomas Kee as Thomas Guthrie, Sam's father. Happy Anderson as Reverend Craig, a priest from Rahne's village. Dustin Ceithamer (physical portrayal) and Marilyn Manson (voice) as the Smiling Men, Illyana's abusers.
Additionally, Dafne Keen appears as Laura / X-23 through archival footage from Logan (2017).
Production Development In 2009, X-Men film series producer Lauren Shuler Donner revealed to /Film her interest in a film adaptation of the New Mutants comics but that it had yet to be pitched to 20th Century Fox. After completing work on The Fault in Our Stars (2014) for 20th Century Fox, director Josh Boone created a comic book with his childhood best friend Knate Lee using panels from Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz's New Mutants comics to illustrate what a potential film trilogy adapting those comics would be like. The pair had been fans of the characters growing up, with Boone calling the stories "really dark, interesting, and different from the typical X-Men stories that we had read". Boone and Lee took the comic to Simon Kinberg, one of the producers of the X-Men film series, who "really liked it". In May 2015, Fox finalized a deal to have Boone direct The New Mutants, from a script by himself and Lee, with Kinberg and Donner producing. The film was initially intended to expand the universe of the X-Men franchise and take place three years after X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). While working on the first draft of the script, Boone sent it and his ideas for the film to Sienkiewicz, who thought Boone "had it figured out" and was not just copying the comics.
Updating the status of the film in March 2016, Kinberg said that Boone and Lee were working on the script, and that, like Deadpool (2016), the film would be different from the core X-Men films, "maybe not as different as Deadpool, but it has its own unique, original voice to it". Kinberg said that the film would have a young adult "vibe", and that there was potential for characters seen in previous films to appear, namely Warpath, Sunspot, and Charles Xavier / Professor X, who all have ties to the New Mutants in the comics. Also at that time, it was reported that Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy were being looked at to star in the film as Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane and Illyana Rasputin / Magik, respectively. The rest of the title team was expected to consist of the characters Sam Guthrie / Cannonball, Roberto da Costa / Sunspot, and Danielle Moonstar / Mirage. Sunspot previously appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), portrayed by Adan Canto, who was not confirmed to be returning for the new film. James McAvoy, who portrayed Professor X in several previous X-Men films, was said to have a significant role in this one, alongside Alexandra Shipp, who was expected to reprise her role of Storm from X-Men: Apocalypse.
In May 2016, Kinberg confirmed that the script included Professor X, and he stated his hope for filming to start at the beginning of 2017. By that August, the titular team's roster had expanded to include the character Warlock, while Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber—who worked with Boone writing The Fault in Our Stars—were working on a new draft of the script while Boone and Lee were busy on another project. In November, the report of Williams and Taylor-Joy's casting was believed to be accurate, and Nat Wolff was being looked at for the role of Cannonball after working with Boone on The Fault in Our Stars. The character Demon Bear was set as the film's main antagonist, with the project aiming for more of a "'Stephen King meets John Hughes'-style horror movie". Boone soon noted that the Demon Bear was a very personal villain for him as a child, as he "was raised by very religious parents. They were Evangelical Southern Baptists and they believed in the rapture; they believed the devil was real; they believed in demons."
Pre-production