Unlike the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the X-Men ensembles have been pretty straightforward comic book flicks. The Wolverine and Logan had their own sub-genres while Deadpool was a comedic superhero film. Now The New Mutants, another spinoff, will take on a genre that’s never been seen in any of the X-Men films or spinoffs. Director Josh Boone says it will be a “full-fledged horror movie,” and that they are trying to do something much different.

Also, Rosario Dawson is in talks to have a leadership role in the film. More on these two stories below.

EW was the first to chat with Boone about making The New Mutants a horror movie. Here’s the full quote:

At this point, we probably shouldn’t expect to see any of the costumes from the comics. But we should be used to that by now, especially since the film had plenty of chances to give Wolverine its iconic animal-based costume. As for the idea that there won’t be a supervillain in the film, that is very interesting, to say the least. Whether it’s Wolverine, Deadpool, or the X-Men, there has always been some antagonistic force that threatens mutant-kind or the earth itself. So maybe the young mutants will be facing down something different.

We already know that The Witch and Split“˜s Anya Taylor-Joy and Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams have signed on for the film. Taylor-Joy will play Magik, a sorceress whose mutant power is to teleport. She also happens to be the younger sister of Colossus. Williams will play Wolfsbane, a Scottish mutant who possesses the ability to transform into a wolf or into a transitional state somewhere between human and wolf that is similar to a werewolf.

According to Boone, The New Mutants will be “a darker and more surreal and impressionistic X-Men series than we’d ever seen before. It felt like Stephen King meets John Hughes.” If you’ve seen the trailers for It or The Dark Tower recently, then we should really be in for a treat. The combination sounds great, and something that should make us forget about X-Men: Apocalypse.

In fact, Boone and his filmmaking partner, Knate Lee, were both obsessed with Stephen King in their youth. And their similar religious upbringing allowed them to share views on crazy religious-based demons. Boone admits that being a Marvel fan when he was younger wasn’t easy, especially since he and Lee hid their Marvel Comics stash underneath their beds away from their parents’ prying eyes. That would help the two shape the vision of The New Mutants. “We love that Fox wants to make all these different X-Men spinoffs as drastically different as they can,” Boone said.

As for Dawson, THR says that the actress is currently in talks to play Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a medical doctor who has the ability to generate a protective bio-field around herself. While there had been rumors that James McAvoy would return to reprise his Professor Xavier role and Alexandra Shipp would return as mentor figure Storm, the report says that neither of them are in the script, making Reyes the only person to lead the young mutants in this horror film.

Dawson sure loves to jump from comic book property to comic book property, as she has played Night Nurse in all of the Marvel Netflix shows so far, and has voiced Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl in The LEGO Batman Movie.

[Source: EW | THR]