Jennifer Lawrence Says She's Leaving 'X-Men' Series After 'Apocalypse'
by Graeme McMillan
The X-Men movies’ Mystique might need to change her appearance for good in future movies.
Jennifer Lawrence, who has played the character since 2011’s X-Men: First Class, said in an MTV interview that she’ll be done with the role following next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse.
Asked by MTV about whether Apocalypse would mark a final appearance for Lawrence as the blue-skinned mutant, she said emphatically, “It is my last one, yes.” (Fox declined to comment on the subject when contacted by THR.)
This makes Lawrence the second X-Men cast member to suggest that Apocalypse would mark their final appearance in the last couple of weeks; Nicholas Hoult, who played the Beast in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, told E! Online that the 2016 installment of the series was the last movie he was signed up for, although he said he wouldn’t rule out returning in future.
It’s possible that X-Men: Apocalypse, to be directed by X-Men: Days of Future Past's Bryan Singer, has been constructed to plan ahead for any potential cast turnover. Characters rejoining the superhero franchise in the movie include Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey (Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner, respectively).
Additionally, Lawrence potentially departing the franchise doesn’t mean that Mystique would have to be dropped from the movies altogether; the Hunger Games actress is, after all, the second Mystique to have appeared in the series, following Rebecca Romijn’s appearances in the original X-Men trilogy. Being a shape changer does make recasting easier to explain in-story, after all.
X-Men: Apocalypse will be released May 27.
Related: X-Men: Apocalypse Adds Three to Cast
