James Marsden Won’t Return As Cyclops In ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” won’t mark the big-screen return of Cyclops. James Marsden has confirmed he will not be reprising his role as the character in the new film, Digital Spy reported. Cyclops died in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” but recent rumors centered on the possibility of Marsden’s character being resurrected in the follow-up to “X-Men: First Class.”

Speaking to Vulture, Marsden said he would not be involved in the new movie. “No ‘X-Men,’ unfortunately. But who knows? If this next film really works, Bryan [Singer] has said he wants to fix a few things, so hopefully that’s one of them,” he said.

Marsden also spoke about the role of spin-offs in the development of movie characters’ stories. “We’ll see. I always liked Cyclops, but they have a lot of characters that they have to parcel out, spend time with each one, make sure everyone feels like they’ve been given their due, introduce them appropriately, but you could do a spin-off of every one of those characters and give them so much depth to the storyline.”

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” will be set in two decades. A portion of the story occurs in the 1970s, around an entire decade after the previous two “X-Men” films. It will then move between that era and the 2020s, which is around 10 years after “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

Director Singer recently shared the first images of the film’s robotic villains, the Sentinels. A promotional video for the fictional company Trask Industries -- the manufacturers of the robotic machines -- was also released.

Members of the film’s large cast include Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage and Ellen Page. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters next May 23.

Watch the promotional video for Trask Industries below: