Will The Original 'X-Men' Cast Return To The Franchise?

Bryan Singer will next make 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which begins filming this fall, but the director isn't done with the X-Men franchise yet. His newest addition to the series, X-Men: Apocalypse, opens in theaters this Friday, but he's already expressed interest in continuing with the franchise, although whether he'll direct another sequel is unconfirmed. Screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg revealed the next installment will take place in the '90s, presumably following the latest recruits, and possibly the X-Men: First Class castmates if they decide to return.

But what about the original cast, the one Bryan Singer helped put together for the first X-Men film? Most of them appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but did that conclude their involvement with the franchise? Below, Singer says he's interested in bringing back the original X-Men cast members, but only under the right circumstances.

It's improbable any of the original cast will return for the '90s-set sequel, even if this series is hardly interested in continuity or attempting to age up the lead characters. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) haven't aged a day since X-Men: First Class, despite the latest sequel taking place 20 years later. Whoever stars in the next X-Men aside, Singer told Fandango he would one day like to see the original team back together:

The night we had a little screening for the cast, I went and saw Patrick Stewart's wife sing at a local venue with Ian McKellen. The two of us were sitting there watching Patrick's lovely wife sing — she has a great voice — and I was thinking, yeah, at some point it would be lovely to see them all again. They're all great actors and great people, and I had great experiences with them. I'd love to see that happen — it's just you have to figure it out. How do you do that? You can't do it for the sake of doing it — you have to do it right. Or else it's just one of those cobbled-together things.

The last time the original cast headlined an X-Men film was The Last Stand–a sequel Singer regrets he didn't direct:

I like finishing things. I like finishing this particular iteration. I know X-Men 3 was quite rushed and I didn't complete it, and I felt a little like it was probably my responsibility to do that as a filmmaker, and I didn't.

Days of Future Past introduced time travel into the series, so the opportunity is there to have the original cast again play an integral role. Sir Patrick Stewart is confirmed to return to the X-Men universe with next year's Wolverine sequel, which is Hugh Jackman's last outing as the character. Seeing Ian McKellan return, in some capacity, as Magneto would be a treat, but, considering the new cast members–Alexandra Shipp (the new Storm) attempted to reach out to Halle Berry, to no avail–are likely under contract for sequels, we'll probably see them remain the stars of X-Men.X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters May 27th.