New Mutants’ Maisie Williams Praises Decision to Delay Release

Maisie Williams believes Fox made the right decision to delay New Mutants nearly a year. This year was scheduled to be a landmark year for Fox’s X-Men slate, and possibly its last. Originally, the plan from the studio was to release three films over the course of the year, which would’ve been the first time they’d ever achieved that milestone. Instead of sticking to their dates, Fox made the surprising decision to delay one of the titles.


However, instead of pushing Deadpool 2 out of the summer or moving X-Men: Dark Phoenix to early next year, they delayed New Mutants.


The move caught many people off guard, as New Mutants‘ already debuted an impressive trailer and was due to hit theaters in April. Now, it won’t be shown on the big screen till February 2019. The delay has come with contrasting reports of what the reshoots will entail, but one of the movie’s stars thinks Fox made the right decision.


Collider spoke to Maisie Williams as she promotes the stop motion animated flick Early Man but made sure to ask about her delayed X-Men debut. Unlike those who were upset they’ll have to wait even longer to see the movie, she views the delay as a blessing that could pay off big time once New Mutants hits theaters. Williams says the delay will give filmmakers more time to finalize the visual effects, which will be a good thing:

Well, it was always a really quick turn around, and there was always battles of how they were going to manage it. We finished in September and they were going to release in April and there’s – it’s a mutant film, there’s a lot of effects. There’s a lot of work that goes into the movie. They really make the movie after we finish shooting, so there was always kind of a bit nervous, really. I know how long this sort of thing takes on Game of Thrones and I know the work that they want to put in is – it’s a huge job. Actually, I think it’s for the better. I think it’s good that we’ve got more time. We’re not so strapped and up against it.


From Williams’ perspective, it is clear why she views the delay as a good thing. As it gives them more time to finish the visual effects or not feel rushed in completing the final edit, it should bode well for the final version of New Mutants that is shown. Those factors and several others will go a long way in determining the overall quality of Boone’s film, and as one of its stars, it is better to wait to have a hit and get it right than rush to hit a release date. There’s also been talk of Fox wanting to reshoot parts of the movie to make it even scarier, but Williams’ makes it sound like the movie is plenty scary already.

Well, it was always bizarre to me when we were shooting- when were shooting it was frightening and the scenes that we were doing were supposed to be like PG-13. I was always like are we going to get away with this? It was really scary. I feel like all of the suspense and horror has always been there, it’s just nice to have a little bit more leeway in the editing and make it as scary as it deserves to be.

Based on Williams’ experience in filming New Mutants, rumors of Fox wanting to push the horror even more would be surprising. Boone has said that the movie will be the “hardest PG-13 ever made,” and if they were already pushing that boundary, there may not be much wiggle room to make it more terrifying. Instead, there have also been rumors the delay was to make the movie lighter. That may be the way New Mutants is heading, but whatever decision they make, it sounds like Williams has complete faith in the creative team.