Now that 20th Century Fox has postponed the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, screenwriter Zak Penn has revealed in an interview that the filmmakers originally planned to include the Dark Phoenix storyline in X2: X-Men United. He revealed that they initially had plans to include Jean Grey’s transformation into Phoenix in the sequel.

Penn recently caught up with The Hollywood Reporter to promote his new film, Ready Player One. During the interview, he discussed director Bryan Singer’s original plan for X2: X-Men United.

“On X2, part of how I ended up getting the job on it was that originally that was going to be the Phoenix story,” Penn said. “I just said … ‘You’ve built up this real universe and you should establish it more before you go into Phoenix.'”

Penn also explained how he successfully convinced director Bryan that it was too soon to take the X-Men into space and introduce alien races like the Shi’ar and the Kree.

“It was too soon to go into the Phoenix story and it was too soon to get cosmic. I would say that’s probably the biggest contribution I made… pushing it in that direction,” the X2: X-Men United screenwriter said. “There are a bunch of scenes I wrote that are still in there. I don’t remember what movie I left to do while they were making X-Men 2, but that was kind of the story of my life. I would come in and do something and then leave.”

Perhaps, it was all for the best that X2 went in a different direction and avoided the introduction of Shi’ar and Kree. Now, there’s a high possibility that fans will get to see the alien race in Dark Phoenix.

Notably, X2 ended with Jean Grey sacrificing herself. Grey’s evolution into the Phoenix was hinted at in the movie’s ending shot. Now, finally, fans will get to see Dark Phoenix storyline in the Simon Kinberg-directed film, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The film was earlier slated to release this November, but, it will now premiere on February 14, 2019, due to reshoots.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter