The worst kept secret in Hollywood is now the centerpiece of Marvel’s future. At D23, Marvel made Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey official as the lead of the X-Men movie hitting theaters May 5, 2028.
Unlike her castmates, Sink didn’t need an introduction. Her Jean Grey is on screens right now in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is still shredding box office records on its march toward $2 billion.
Kevin Feige has already said her Jean carries a “key role in the future of the MCU.” At D23, we found out what that meant.
Who Is Sadie Sink?
Sink, 24, grew up in Brenham, Texas, and was a Broadway kid before she was a screen star, playing the title role in Annie and a young Queen Elizabeth II opposite Helen Mirren in The Audience.
Then Stranger Things happened. As Max Mayfield, Sink went from season 2 addition to the emotional core of the show, and her Kate Bush scene in “Dear Billy” became one of the defining TV moments of the decade. She closed out the role when the series finale landed on New Year’s weekend.
The Resume Beyond Hawkins
Sink anchored Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, went toe to toe with Brendan Fraser’s Oscar-winning turn in The Whale, and fronted Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film.
Last year she returned to Broadway in John Proctor Is the Villain and picked up a Tony nomination for it. Then came the Jean Grey reveal in Brand New Day, after more than a year of code names and dodged questions.
Who Is Jean Grey?
Jean Grey is a founding X-Man, debuting as Marvel Girl in 1963’s The X-Men #1 from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
She is a telepath and telekinetic, and in Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s Dark Phoenix Saga, she became the host of a cosmic force, making her the most powerful and most tragic figure in X-Men history.
That story is the character’s blessing and curse. It is the greatest X-Men arc ever printed, and Hollywood has botched it twice. It’s also rumored to be Kevin Feige’s favorite X-Men story and one he wants to adapt the right way in the MCU.
The Actresses Who Wore It Before
Famke Janssen originated the role across Fox’s original trilogy and got a butchered Phoenix arc in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Sophie Turner inherited it for Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, the 2019 flop that killed the Fox era on its way out the door.
Sink is the first Jean Grey in history to debut outside an X-Men movie, and the first to arrive as the franchise lead rather than part of an ensemble. Marvel built an entire Spider-Man blockbuster around introducing her.
The pressure is real, and so far Sink is handling it like a veteran. In her first interview since the reveal, she confirmed she has been screen testing with actors to lock in team chemistry ahead of cameras rolling next year.
The Team Around Her
Jean’s two most important comic relationships are already cast. Kit Connor is Scott Summers, her great love. Samara Weaving is Emma Frost, the woman who complicates it.
And lurking over all of it is Adam Driver’s Nathaniel Milbury, a villain whose comic obsession is the Grey and Summers bloodlines.
X-Men opens May 5, 2028. Watch the full D23 reveal here, and see release date, full cast, villain, and every rumor in our X-Men guide.
