Fans of the X-Men franchise might argue that those first couple live-action movies are the best to date.
Either way, a standout actress from the original film trilogy by Fox was definitively Famke Janssen, who portrayed Dr. Jean Gray from Marvel’s beloved comic-book series.
As X-Men die-hards are well aware, Gray is a mutant who possesses telekinetic powers. She is the love interest of Cyclops (played by James Marsden), though Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) takes a liking to Gray, as revealed in the early 2000s movies.
Jackman, 57, would go on to reprise his coveted role in future installments — but for Janssen, 60, it was a whole different story.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Dutch actress and former model revealed that Marvel “never ever” asked her back to fill Gray’s shoes once again.
“Every time I do an interview, it’s mentioned,” Janssen told the magazine in an interview article published on Thursday, Oct. 30. “It’s interesting. I didn’t realize that was such a big part. Every interview I do, that will come up, and of everything I say, that is going to be the only thing that’s gonna be printed.”
Ever since Marvel announced some of her co-stars from the O.G. X-Men movie era would be reprising their roles for next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and enter the Disney-owned MCU franchise for the first time, fans have wanted to know if Janssen is following suit. Alan Cumming, for example, is returning to portray Nightcrawler, who made his grand entrance in X2 back in 2003.
“I should be flattered, I suppose, that this character has resonated with people,” Janssen also told Entertainment Weekly in the recent interview. “It’s been so long, but it’s nice that people are still talking about her. I’m sure every single time there’s a new movie that they’re doing, like [is it] Doomsday? … it’ll come up again.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
