Even a murderous mercenary loner needs a couple friends every now and then.

Deadpool didn’t feature a ton of X-Men members in his solo movie debut. The merry Marvel mutants were mostly represented by just two characters: Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, whose ultra-stern demeanor played well against Ryan Reynolds’s perpetual wisecracks. But who will join the cast of the upcoming Deadpool 2? Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have already said the sequel will feature “a lot of characters,” and they confirmed two specific ones to Collider: Colossus and Negasonic Teenager Warhead, returning for a second tour of duty with the Merc With a Mouth.

Here’s what Wernick and Rheese told Collider:

Wernick: I can’t say how much they are…

Reese: I think we can say. Yeah, they’ll be in the sequel.

Wernick: Yeah, they’ll make at least an appearance.

It seemed to me like Deadpool was deliberately quarantined from most of the X-Men universe proper in his first movie; it was weird, it was edgy, it was R-rated, and if it didn’t work it could have tainted the wider X-brand. But the movie did work for audiences; in fact, it made about $200 million more worldwide than X-Men: Apocalypse. So now the opposite is probably true; the X-Men could use a little boost in profile and coolness from Deadpool. So Colossus and NTW are probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mutant cameos.

Deadpool 2 is early due next year, shortly after he wraps up his Oscar campaign.

More From ScreenCrush