Jessica Chastain Teases That She Doesn't Play Lilandra In X-Men: Dark Phoenix

We still don't know which Marvel character Jessica Chastain will play in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and the actress herself seems to have shot down the most popular rumor.

It's long been speculated that Chastain would portray Shi'ar Empress Lilandra Neramani in the movie, mostly because the character was mentioned in the initial trade reports about the upcoming X-Men sequel. 

However, as Comic Book Movie reports, Chastain responded to a fan question on Instagram with this: "Hey folks, want a scoop? I'm not playing Lilandra..." The post has since been deleted, so it could just be that Chastain was having some fun. But there's also a chance that the ultra-secretive executives at Marvel may have told her to remove such a big spoiler.

In the comics, Lilandra is a former love of Professor X and she plays a big part in the Phoenix saga. It's really kind of hard to believe the character wouldn't factor into Dark Phoenix.

But if Chastain really isn't playing Lilandra, who does she play? Early reports indicated that she'll portray a villain, but that's never actually been confirmed. As ScreenRant points out, the recent casting of a young version of Jean Grey could hint that Chastain could potentially play an older version of Sophie Turner's character. If you want to get more abstract, there's also a chance that she could play a kind of human incarnation of the Phoenix Force itself.

Of course, as we said earlier, it's still entirely possible that Chastain really does play Lilandra and that she just wanted to throw everyone off. After all, she also threatened to make James McAvoy cry in an Instagram post.

We'll let you know when anything official is released. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is slated to hit theaters Nov. 2, 2018. Until then, take a look at the dark side of X-Men you never knew about.