Marvel Studios has landed on Kit Connor to play Scott Summers in its upcoming X-Men movie, according to a report from Deadline. Sources tell the trade that director Jake Schreier and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige settled on Connor last week after a long casting process. Marvel and representatives for Connor could not be reached for comment, so there is no official confirmation yet.
The wording matters here. This is not the usual shortlist chatter that has been circling Cyclops for weeks. Deadline is reporting a decision.
How the Search Played Out
According to the report, the X-Men casting process has been the most active in Hollywood this summer, running alongside the search for the next James Bond. Schreier and Feige took meetings and ran auditions over the past couple of months, then narrowed things to a small group of actors who tested after the Fourth of July. Deadline says there was a lot of back and forth before the studio settled on Connor.
That timeline lines up with the noise that has been coming out of the rumor mill. Cooper Hoffman and Drew Starkey were both floated for Summers in recent weeks, and Hoffman shut his down on a red carpet, telling Entertainment Tonight it was not going to be him and noting how fast this kind of speculation spreads. If a group tested in July and one name came out ahead, the other candidates being named publicly makes more sense in hindsight.
It also follows the same pattern as the Emma Frost casting. Deadline reported in July that Samara Weaving was in line for that role after Schreier and Feige met with multiple candidates. Same process, same outlet, same sourcing.
Who Kit Connor Is
Connor broke out as Nick Nelson in Netflix’s Heartstopper and recently reprised the role in the film send-off Heartstopper Forever. That performance put him in front of Alex Garland, who cast him in the A24 war film Warfare and then attached him to lead Garland’s Elden Ring adaptation, also for A24.
He has also led the mystery-horror film One of Us, signed on to the medieval zombie horror Rapture opposite Will Poulter and Manu Ríos, and booked the voice lead in Netflix’s Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory. Taking Cyclops on top of Elden Ring would give him two tentpole franchise leads running at the same time.
The Role He’s Stepping Into
Scott Summers first appeared in 1963 in The X-Men from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and he has been a cornerstone of the franchise ever since. He is the field captain, the one who calls the plays, and his power set is built around control. The optic blasts fire constantly, and the visor and ruby quartz glasses are the only thing holding them back. Every version of the character that works leans on that tension between the guy in command and the guy who cannot look at anyone without a lens in front of his eyes.
Only two actors have played him in live action so far. James Marsden carried the role through three films in the 2000s, and Tye Sheridan took over for the prequel era in the 2010s. Marsden is already confirmed to suit up again for Avengers: Doomsday this December, which means audiences will see one Cyclops on screen before the new one is even officially announced.
Where the Movie Stands
Schreier came aboard as director last spring after Thunderbolts*, and his Beef and The Bear collaborators Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo were hired to write the script earlier this year. Michael Lesslie wrote the original draft. With Weaving reportedly attached to Emma Frost and Connor now reportedly locked for Cyclops, the roster is starting to fill in.
Marvel has not put out a press release on any of it, and until the studio confirms, this stays in reported territory. But two Deadline scoops in as many weeks, both describing the same process with the same decision makers, suggests the announcement is coming sooner rather than later.
Source: Deadline
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