Actors You Will Not Believe Were Almost Cast As X-Men

1. Helen Hunt Almost Played Jean Grey

Helen Hunt was asked to play the Omega-level mutant, but she turned down the role.

2. Jada Pinket Smith Almost Played Storm

Jada turned down this explosive role. She eventually moved on to play Fish Mooney in the popular T.V show Gotham.

3. Johnny Depp Almost Played Wolverine

Depp is known for turning down huge roles. This was one of them.

4. Sigourney Weaver Almost Played Emma Frost

Bryan Singer was supposed to direct “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and he had the full intention of having Sigourney play Emma Frost. But when Brett Ratner took on as Director he didn’t include see Emma Frost until “X-Men: First Class.” in 2011.

5. Glenn Danzig Almost Played Wolverine

Danzig as Wolverine. Hell yes! The Misfits frontman was to play Wolverine in the mid 90’s, but the movie never happened.

6. Rachel Leigh Cook Almost Played Rogue

Rachel turned down the role because she wasn’t down with how much CGI was involved.

7. Kate Winslet Almost Played Rogue

Winslet was approached for the role of Rogue because they were looking for an older character. That didn’t pan in the end.

8. Natalie Portman Almost Played Jubilee

Portman turned down the role. This led to the part getting cut out from the original movie. Bummer!

9. Neil Patrick Harris Almost Played Nightcrawler

This would have been great to see. However, Alan Cumming was eventually cast as Nightcrawler due to his accent.

10. Ethan Embry Almost Played Nightcrawler

The “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Empire Records” actor was screened for the role. Although it looked like it was a go the disconnect between his age and Nightcrawler’s age in the script came up and he was not cast.

11. Channing Tatum Almost Played Gambit

Gambit was written out of the film “X-Men: The Last Stand”. Little did we know Tatum was almost cast in this role. Luckily due to his persistence he gets to play it in his own Gambit film out October 7th.

12. Kevin Nash Almost Played Sabretooth

Nash’s success prevented him from taking the role. You will later see him in a supporting role in Punisher. Not as cool.

13. Mike Vogel Almost Played Angel

Vogel turned down the role to focus on starring in Poseidon.

14. Summer Glau Almost Played Kitty Pryde

Glau’s audition was not successful. Strange since she has been in no less than four superhero projects,

15. Nick Stahl Almost Played Angel

Stahl wasn’t the right fit for the character and he never got past the audition process.

16. Alice Eve Almost Played Emma Frost

Eve did not like the way the script had been rewritten and felt it was no longer right that she play the role. She thought Emma Frost was portrayed as a glorified lap dog.

17. Angel Bassett Almost Played Storm

Bassett was set to play Storm in the abandoned 1995 film that never saw the light of day.

18. Aaron Taylor-Johnson Almost Played Cyclops

Taylor-Johnson was locked in to work with Matthew Vaughn as Scott Summers in the X-Men. However, after much teasing we never saw him.

19. Mel Gibson Almost Played Wolverine

Mel Gibson was among the A list of actors considered to plat the role. Others in the running were Russell Crowe, Aaron Eckhart, and Keanu Reeves.

20. Jim Caviziel Almost Played Cyclops