Kit Connor, the young British actor known for Heartstopper and Warfare, is circling the role of Cyclops in Marvel Studios' upcoming X-Men reboot, according to Deadline, with The Hollywood Reporter corroborating the story through its own sources. Studio representatives have had no comment.

Cyclops — real name Scott Summers — is one of the foundational characters of the X-Men mythology, a mutant who fires powerful beams of energy from his eyes. The role has a screen history: James Marsden played him across the original X-Men trilogy and 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Tye Sheridan took over for several entries in the 2010s. Connor would be the third actor to lead the part on the big screen.

The reboot is being directed by Jake Schreier, whose Thunderbolts opened in 2025. It will be the first standalone X-Men film since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox's entertainment assets in 2019, a deal that brought the mutant characters — and the broader X-Men rights — under the same roof as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Mutant characters have already begun filtering into the MCU, appearing in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine.

Connor is not the only name attaching to the project. Variety reports that Samara Weaving has been announced as Emma Frost, the diamond-skinned telepath who shifts between villain and hero depending on the storyline. Sadie Sink, of Stranger Things fame, has officially joined the MCU as Jean Grey — a role previously played by Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner — and made her debut in the 2026 film Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Actress Inde Navarrette has also said publicly that she met with Schreier and expressed interest in playing Mystique, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, the original Fox-era mutants are not done yet. Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden are set to reprise their roles as Magneto, Professor X, Mystique, and Cyclops in Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release in December 2026, alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, according to Variety.

That means two different Cyclops actors could appear in Marvel films within roughly the same window — Marsden in Doomsday, Connor in the reboot. It is the kind of dual-casting that has become a signature of Marvel's multiverse storytelling, where multiple versions of the same character exist across separate timelines.

For fans, the X-Men reboot carries a particular weight. The Fox films launched in 2000 and ran for nearly two decades; bringing the franchise fully into Marvel's own continuity has been a long-awaited next step since the 2019 acquisition. With Schreier directing, a cast taking shape, and Connor potentially anchoring the team as its field leader, the pieces are starting to move into place.