So much of Deadpool & Wolverine is being kept under wraps that it's easy to forget the threequel will introduce one of the X-Men's greatest villains with Cassandra Nova.
The twisted twin sister of Professor Charles Xavier, it appears Nova will be more than a match for the threequel's title characters both mentally and physically (thanks to formidable telekinetic abilities). The Crown star Emma Corrin plays the villain and explained their approach to the role in a recent interview with Screen Rant.
Corrin started by confirming both Sir Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy factored into their portrayal of Cassandra. "I did look back at those two performances," they said. "I hesitated before I did because I was like, 'Do I want to get too close? Will I still be able to make it my own?' But I found it really interesting how they portrayed someone whose power is very internal and telepathic in that telepathic world."
"I wanted to see if there were any bits that I could use or pay homage to that, obviously, fans would really enjoy. But in terms of the comics, we very much stay true to the comics in terms of Cassandra's look, the cap and the costume and the weirdy fingers, and definitely, you'll see echoes of her origin story and her relationship of her brother are very prominent here in terms of her motivation," Corrin concluded.
That last part is very interesting, particularly as we still don't know what Cassandra is up to. The final trailer showed her using a device which caused the reality around her to undergo spaghettification, suggesting she may wish to destroy her brother's reality or something along those lines.
Even if this Wolverine has never crossed paths with her before, she's bound to have a history with some version of the X-Men, and that may also be what Corrin refers to here.
The actor later said they'd like to one day return to the MCU and share the screen with a Professor X Variant. "That would be wild, which I hadn't thought of, but that is sort of my answer, not that I would play him, but I think to see Cassandra and Charles Xavier meet, everyone loves a bit of family drama!"
Shawn Levy directs Deadpool & Wolverine, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Matthew Macfadyen, and Dafne Keen. The movie is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy.
Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26.