Simon Kinberg Talks That Death In New ‘Dark Phoenix’ Trailer & Giving “Closure” Fox’s ‘X-Men’ Franchise

**Spoilers for “Dark Phoenix”**

**Unless you’ve seen the trailer because they spoil the shit out of the movie in the trailer**

**So…Spoilers for “Dark Phoenix” for those that haven’t seen the trailer**

After months of delays and one truly subpar trailer, Fox finally gave fans a meaty look at the upcoming “X-Men” film “Dark Phoenix.” And after the first 30 seconds of the new trailer, it’s clear that the studio is making sure people know this film is serious. Deadly serious.

In an interesting turn of events, the newest trailer for “Dark Phoenix” shows the death of Jennifer Lawrence’s character Mystique. A veteran of these films, Lawrence has been front and center as part of the marketing for every ‘X-Men’ film she’s been a part of. However, after watching this new footage, it’s obvious that her work on this film was very limited and her death happens early on. And considering a new interview with writer-director Simon Kinberg, it would appear that Mystique’s death is only just the beginning. That’s right, “Dark Phoenix” will feature more death and destruction than any previous film in the series.

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Right off the bat, in an interview with EW, Kinberg explains why the new trailer seemingly spoils one of the more emotional parts of the film, saying, “Well, the thought process behind that was to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other ‘X-Men’ movies. It’s a movie where shocking things happen, where intense, dramatic things happen. People don’t just fall off buildings and dust themselves off and walk away. There’s a reality to this movie and a consequence to this movie. Even more than that, it was to show that Jean/Dark Phoenix is genuinely a threat to everyone, including the X-Men.”

However, he admits that killing off Lawrence’s character is a major decision, as she’s one of the biggest stars in the franchise. “I had a lot of emotions about it,” said the filmmaker. “I was obviously sad about it, as Jen’s friend, and also as a fan of Jen as an actress. But I felt it was the strongest, most dramatic thing for the movie, and sometimes you have to make those kinds of hard decisions to service the larger story.”

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that there were many rumors surrounding Lawrence’s involvement in the ‘X-Men’ universe since before the last film ‘Apocalypse.’ It was heavily rumored that the actress wasn’t happy with the quality of the films and was only coming back because James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were returning as well. It wouldn’t be shocking to learn that it was Lawrence asking for a shorter filming schedule, which prompted the idea of her death. Digression aside, it’s still a big death to spoil in a trailer.

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Fans worried that the new trailer spoils the only major death in the film should know that Kinberg says, in no uncertain terms, Mystique won’t be the only one. “There are certainly other major casualties in this,” revealed the director.

Kinberg also talks about the delays surrounding this film. Originally scheduled for release in November of last year, the film was then pushed back to February 2019. However, the film was ultimately pushed to June 7. He explains that the reasoning for these moves was a combination of things, not the least of which was the scheduling of “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame,” coming in early March and late April, respectively. Clearly, Fox wants to steer clear of those films.

Speaking of the MCU, Kinberg also talked about the ‘X-Men’ franchise’s future, as Fox gets absorbed by the Disney beast later this year. And much like everyone else, the filmmaker assures everyone that he has no idea what’s going to happen. However, he did assure fans that if the film franchise is rebooted, this is a worthy end to the ‘X-Men’ Fox universe.

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“There was something about that sense of closure for the [X-Men], that sense of test, that sense of loss. It felt like not this is the end necessarily, but this is it for them,” explained Kinberg.

He concluded, “It felt like it was time at least to give them some huge explosive story that demanded a different kind of resilience from them. I really felt on this one I couldn’t imagine where else to go with these characters after what they’ve gone through in this movie.”

“Dark Phoenix” arrives in theaters on June 7.