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Five mutant teens, a monster made of nightmares, and a release date that finally has some backing behind it.
Twentieth Century Studios used its Comic-Con@Home slot on July 23 to do something “The New Mutants” hadn’t managed in over two years: give fans a real look at the finished movie and a date to actually believe in. The virtual panel, hosted by Ira Madison III, brought together director Josh Boone and stars Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt and Henry Zaga to unveil the film’s opening scene and a new teaser trailer built almost entirely around dread rather than spectacle.
- The teaser closes with a title card crossing out the film’s string of previous release dates before landing on August 28, 2020 — punctuated by a cartoon speech bubble reading “Fingers Crossed.”
- Panel guests included Boone plus cast members Maisie Williams (Wolfsbane), Anya Taylor-Joy (Magik), Charlie Heaton (Cannonball), Alice Braga (Dr. Cecilia Reyes), Blu Hunt (Mirage) and Henry Zaga (Sunspot), moderated by Ira Madison III.
- Footage leaned on the comics’ Demon Bear arc, showing the young mutants confronting “Smiley Men” and the titular bear inside the isolated facility where Dr. Reyes holds them.
A Virtual Panel for a Movie That’s Survived Everything
“The New Mutants” has outlasted more release dates than most franchises get sequels. Originally targeted for an April 2018 debut, the film got knocked around by reshoot rumors, Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, and finally the COVID-19 shutdown that emptied theaters across the country. By the time Boone’s cast logged on for Comic-Con@Home, the joke practically wrote itself — which is exactly what the teaser’s crossed-out title card delivered, listing the movie’s graveyard of abandoned dates before settling, tentatively, on August 28.
That self-aware needle-drop mattered as much as any new footage. Fans following the saga alongside the handful of big releases still clinging to a 2020 slot had genuine reason to be skeptical that any date would hold, and Boone’s team knew it.
The Opening Scene and the Horror Pivot
Rather than lean into standard superhero-team spectacle, the panel debuted the film’s actual opening scene alongside the teaser — a choice that reinforced just how far “The New Mutants” strays from the X-Men films that preceded it. Structured around Dr. Cecilia Reyes’s isolated facility, the story traps five young mutants who are still figuring out their own abilities while being forced to relive the traumas that put them there in the first place.
The footage pulled directly from the Demon Bear storyline that longtime X-Men readers immediately recognized, complete with the eerie “Smiley Men” and the shadow-wreathed bear itself stalking the halls. It’s a tonal swing that puts the film closer to the horror slate building toward late 2020 and 2021 than to any prior mutant blockbuster.
Fingers Crossed.
Introducing the Team
The teaser gave each of the five leads a distinct beat. Maisie Williams appears as Rahne Sinclair, better known as Wolfsbane; Anya Taylor-Joy’s Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik, steps through glowing portals wielding her Soulsword with her dragon puppet Lockheed in tow; Charlie Heaton plays Sam Guthrie, the rocket-powered Cannonball; Henry Zaga is Roberto da Costa, known as Sunspot; and Blu Hunt rounds out the group as Dani Moonstar, or Mirage. Alice Braga’s Dr. Reyes serves as both caretaker and jailer, the adult authority the teens have to get past to survive.
None of the footage leaned on quips or team-up banter. Every beat centered on fear — of the facility, of each other’s untethered powers, and of whatever the Demon Bear represents in each of their pasts.
Boone’s panel appearance, alongside a full cast willing to sit through a virtual Comic-Con to sell a movie that’s been delayed this many times, was itself a statement of intent: after over two years of false starts, “The New Mutants” finally had a trailer, an opening scene, and a date on the calendar that its own marketing was willing to joke about crossing out.
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