Samara Weaving has been cast as Emma Frost, the telepathic White Queen who began as one of the X-Men's greatest villains and eventually became one of their most complex members, in Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot directed by Jake Schreier. Deadline broke the news Friday. Marvel had no comment.
Weaving, 34, is the Australian actress best known for Ready or Not, Scream VI and Bill & Ted Face the Music who has been on a remarkable run in 2026, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come went to No. 1 on Hulu, SXSW Audience Award winner Over Your Dead Body with Jason Segel and critics' darling Carolina Caroline, which sits at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. She is having the breakout year that anyone who saw Ready or Not in 2019 knew was coming.
Director Schreier and Marvel's Kevin Feige ran what sources called "the most thorough search" for the role.
Finalists tested after July 4th. Weaving's audition, per Deadline, was "too hard to beat." January Jones had played Emma Frost in the Fox films X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past.
The MCU version arrives in a film expected to open in 2028, after Avengers: Doomsday, with a script from Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear co-creator Joanna Calo. Inde Navarrette has confirmed she met with Feige about the role of Mystique.