Charles Melton Reacts to Reports Linking Him to Beast in Marvel’s X-MEN

The MCU’s mutant era is starting to take shape, and Charles Melton has found himself right in the middle of the latest round of X-Men casting rumors.

Marvel Studios officially brought Jean Grey into the MCU with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which hit theaters on July 31st with Sadie Sink playing the iconic mutant. Since then, speculation surrounding Marvel’s rebooted X-Men has kicked into high gear, especially with Disney’s D23 expo happening this weekend.

There’s already plenty of anticipation surrounding what Marvel might reveal at the event, including a possible second Avengers: Doomsday trailer. But for X-Men fans, the bigger question is whether Marvel Studios will finally pull back the curtain on its new X-Men mutant lineup.

One name that keeps coming up is Melton, who has been rumored to be taking on the role of Hank McCoy, better known as Beast. After weeks of rumors, Melton has now addressed all that Marvel talk, and he certainly sounded interested in the possibilities when speaking with The Playlist.

“It depends on what day or moment you catch me on, but right now I’d say I think I believe in Jake and Sunny so much, and I would love to work with them again, and many more times.

“It’d be amazing to work with them again, and I think whenever people are talking about you in a very maybe positive, hopeful way, I think it’s exciting. But I think it’s amazing to be talked about and even considered for any of those possibilities about something amazing.”

The Jake and Sunny he’s talking about are Jake Schreier and Lee Sung Jin, two people Melton already knows very well.

Schreier is attached to direct Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot and previously worked with Melton on Netflix’s Beef. Lee created Beef and co-wrote the new X-Men screenplay with Joanna Calo.

Melton’s performance in Beef Season 2 also earned him an Emmy nomination this year, so another collaboration with that creative team would make a lot of sense from his perspective.

There is, however, an interesting wrinkle to Melton’s comments. The interview happened before reports surfaced this week claiming that Melton had already passed on playing Beast. That makes the situation considerably harder to read.

His comments clearly show enthusiasm about potentially working with Schreier and Lee again, but something may have changed between the interview and those newer reports.

Maybe Melton was interested and ultimately decided the role wasn’t for him. Maybe the original reports about him being in discussions for Beast overstated where things stood. Or perhaps the reports claiming he walked away from the part aren’t accurate.

Welcome to Marvel casting season, where everybody gets to spend a few weeks trying to figure out which rumor is actually attached to reality. D23 could clear up quite a bit.

At the moment, only three major roles in Marvel’s new X-Men lineup are officially locked. Sink will return as Jean Grey, Samara Weaving is set to play Emma Frost, and Kit Connor will take on Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.

After those three, things get much less certain. Cailee Spaeny has repeatedly been mentioned as Marvel’s top choice for Rogue, although reports indicate that her deal hasn’t been finalized heading into D23. That puts her in a somewhat similar situation to what we’ve been hearing about Melton.

Then there’s Professor Charles Xavier. Bill Skarsgård currently appears to be the frontrunner for Professor X, while Christopher Abbott and Tom Pelphrey have also reportedly tested for the role.

Adam Driver has been floating around the project for months as well, although the character he might play seems to change depending on the report. Driver was initially linked to Magneto, followed by Mister Sinister, and more recently Sebastian Shaw.

Storm is another major piece of the mutant puzzle that Marvel still needs to lock down. French actress Suzy Bemba, known for Poor Things, is reportedly being considered for Ororo Munroe, although plenty of fans continue to champion previous candidate Jayme Lawson for the role.

Iceman and Angel have also been rumored as potential members of the team, which would give Marvel a pretty damn cool collection of mutants to work with if everything comes together.

For now, Marvel Studios isn’t confirming the growing pile of casting reports, which isn’t particularly surprising when the studio may be preparing to announce the actors itself.

The expectation surrounding D23 is that Marvel could formally introduce the MCU’s new X-Men during its panel, provided the remaining contracts are completed in time.

And that brings us back to Melton. He clearly likes Schreier and Lee, believes in what they’re doing, and was excited that his name was even part of the conversation. Whether that excitement ever turned into serious negotiations for Beast, and whether those negotiations ultimately fell apart, remains unclear.

If Marvel does unveil its X-Men cast at D23, we may finally find out whether Charles Melton was almost the MCU’s Beast or simply another name caught up in the endless Marvel rumor machine.

Either way, with Jean Grey, Cyclops and Emma Frost already on the board, Marvel’s new generation of X-Men is getting very real. Now we just need to see who else walks through Xavier’s front door.