Famke Janssen open to returning as Jean Grey in X-Men MCU films

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

This week was the 20th anniversary of the release of the first X-MEN film and it has made a lot of us revisit a movie that really helped pave the way for the new age of comic book movie adaptations. Famke Janssen played Jean Grey in the film and went on to appear in five future X-MEN related films along the way. Sophie Turner took over the role in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE and seemingly ended her run with the release of last year's DARK PHOENIX. Now that Marvel Studios has acquired the rights from 20th Century Fox after the Disney/Fox merger, the plan is to now release a new version of the X-Men into the MCU. It remains unclear when or how this will happen but Janssen says she's open to reprising the role of Jean Grey.

During a recent interview with the "Observer", Janssen admitted that she doesn't expect a call from Marvel boss, Kevin Feige but she would be open to a return to the franchise:

"I think the question is more if they would have any interest in bringing me back. With Days of Future Past, there was a surprise way of reintroducing certain characters that had been killed off. In some people's cases, it was to bring them back as well as the younger versions of their characters. I'd be curious to see what happens. But, yes, I would be very open to it."

Released in 2000, the first X-MEN film featured Janssen as part of an ensemble cast that included Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Halle Berry (Storm), Patrick Stewart, (Professor X), James Marsden, (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Ray Park (Toad), and Ian McKellen (Magneto). Since the film was released ahead of the comic book movie boom at the box office, the movie became a bit of a surprise hit, opening to $54.5 million and becoming the biggest opening weekend for a superhero film at the time. X-MEN went on to gross $157.3 million domestically and $296.3 million worldwide and the movie proved to be a critical success as well, scoring an 81% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Janssen proved to be a memorable Jean Grey, standing out in the first film despite most of the attention being given to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine but she really hit her stride in X2: X-MEN UNITED. The character was given more depth and a character arc that sadly wasn't fully realized in the followup, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. She may not be the definitive version of the character but I thought she handled the part well.

Would YOU want to see Famke Janssen back as Jean Grey?