With the current X-Men movie universe reportedly winding down after the now-filming X-Men: Apocalypse, Fox needed to find a way to keep their Marvel superhero franchise alive. Instead of another reboot, they’ve instead focused on something different: a spinoff. The studio has signed a deal with The Fault In Our Stars director Josh Boone to co-write and direct The New Mutants, an X-Men spinoff that would feature an all-new cast of superheroes.

Boone, who Fox wanted to keep at the studio after their success together on Stars, will co-write the upcoming film with Knate Gwaltney and X-Men movie mainstays Simon Kinberg and Laura Shuler-Donner will produce. Says Kinberg of the news:

We’re so excited to explore this new part of the X-Men universe, and so excited to do it with Josh, who is uniquely suited to tell this story about young characters.

The New Mutants comic book debuted in very much the same way this upcoming movie will. Marvel had lots of success with the Uncanny X-Men books and wanted a spinoff with younger, teenaged versions of the classic X-Men team. The original team was comprised of Cannonball, Mirage, Karma, Sunspot and Wolfsbane, though the lineup has changed many times over the years.

If Fox were looking ahead, they may start to introduce some of these characters in X-Men: Apocalypse, but the question is when Boone will be able to shoot New Mutants. He's committed to The Vampire Chronicles at Universal and is also developing The Stand at Warner Bros. At the current rate, it looks like New Mutants may still be a few years off and any X-Men: Apocalypse post-credits scene could be a little ambitious.

Whatever it is, it’s a smart move by Fox to phase out one era of mutants, while introducing yet another.

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