Famke Janssen believes her returning to play Jean Grey is unlikely.
The Dutch actress feels like she won’t be coming back to the film series, according to reports.
At the Denver Comic-Con, Janssen made remarks that seem to suggest her time is done. As it stands, Sophie Turner is playing Jean in the X-Men franchise.
Janssen explains she loves playing Jean Grey, but she doesn’t think a return is in her future. “It’s the gift that keeps on, kept on giving,” she says. “I think we’re done, but it was really great while it lasted and it lasted for a long time.”
“I don’t think any of us had any understanding of how popular our first movie was going to be and that it was gonna live on for 15 plus years,” she says. “And then I certainly didn’t realize…I mean I knew Jean Grey could turn into Dark Phoenix, obviously, and that Phoenix rises from the ashes, but the fact that as Jean Grey or the Phoenix they’ve killed me, I’ve come back, I’m like a cockroach. They can’t get rid of me.”
Of her favourite memories, Janssen cites working with Hugh Jackman, James Marsden and the original cast. The actress has nothing but kind words for her co-stars.
“It’s been nothing but a pleasure working not just as Jean Grey, which was such an honor because comics were so fantastic already, but then the entire cast who I got to play with, all my fellow actors, thespians who are so talented. It was just a wonderful experience. I’m very grateful.”
Even though Turner is playing Jean, it remains to be seen whether or not Fox would ask Janssen back. Hugh Jackman is done playing Wolverine, and Patrick Stewart thinks his time as Professor X is over.
However, Janssen would play Jean in a supporting role as a hallucination during The Wolverine. She and Marsden did return for cameos in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Daniel Cudmore, and Ellen Page would reprise their roles in that film.
Would Janssen reprise the role if asked? “Jean Grey is a part of me,” she says. “I would definitely come back to play her whenever they ask me.”
Turner will reprise the role of Jean in 2018’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
