Jessica Chastain to play villainous alien princess in X-Men: Dark Phoenix movie?

Actress Jessica Chastain who was last seen in Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) is in talks to play the villain in the upcoming X-Men movie, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. [caption id=“attachment_629049” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jessica Chastain. AP Photo[/caption] In 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse had the X-Men fighting the prehistoric Egyptian mutant En Sabah Nur and also saw the first group of X-Men being formed with Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe (Storm), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) and Peter Maximoff (Quicksilver) under the tutelage of Charles Xavier, Mystique (Raven) and Hank McCoy (Beast). The new film will focus on the Dark Phoenix saga from the X-Men comics world. Jean Grey, a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and a powerful mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities will have a personality shift when, in a mission with the X-Men team, she is protected and later imbued by an all-powerful cosmic energy called Phoenix Force. Over some time, this force overwhelms and takes control of Jean Grey’s personality, making her evil (thus, Dark Phoenix) and corrupts her to such an extent that it becomes inevitable on the part of the X-Men to fight her. Sophie Turner, who had played the role of Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse will reprise her role in the upcoming film and 20th Century Fox (the production studio) has reportedly closed deals with Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult to return to the franchise after their original three-picture deals expired. The other stars from X-Men Apocalypse — Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan and Kodi Smit-McPhee will also be seen in the latest film, The Hollywood Reporter stated_._ The Hollywood Reporter also said that there is speculation that in the upcoming X-Men saga, Chastain would essay the role of Lilandra, the empress of the alien empire Shi’ar, who gets into a conflict with the X-Men, after she pledges to imprison and execute the Dark Phoenix. Incidentally, as per the Marvel’s X-Men comics worl,d Lilandra also happens to be one of the love interests of Charles Xavier and they even get married at one point of time. It will be interesting to see how _S_imon Kinberg, who has been associated with the X-Men films for a long time and is writing and making his directorial debut with the upcoming film, integrates Lilandra in the Dark Phoenix saga. The film is slated to release on 2 November 2018.