The X-MEN franchise certainly got off to a pretty strong start. The first movie was understandably mainstream in its appeal, with a great focus on the mutant struggle. The second one amped things up, adding more credibility to the comic book movie genre as a whole. To some, X-2: X-MEN UNITED holds up as one of the superior entries in the franchise. The decline in quality didn’t come until X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, the third film in the franchise.

Unlike the first two movies, THE LAST STAND wasn’t directed by Bryan Singer. Singer instead left the X-MEN to tackle SUPERMAN RETURNS, another picture that seemed to underwhelm the target fan base. The film was rushed to completion, with director Brett Ratner brought on board to helm the picture, and the results were a bit messy, to say the least. Ever since then, fans have always been left to wonder: what if Singer had never left?

Apparently, us fans aren’t the only ones to wonder such a thing. It’s something that’s plagued Singer’s mind as well. In an interview with Fandango, the X-MEN: APOCALYPSE discussed how rewarding it is to finish this trilogy of films — which is an opportunity he never followed through with in the previous X-MEN trilogy. 

Here’s what Singer had to say:

“I like finishing things. I like finishing this particular iteration. I know X-MEN 3 was quite rushed and I didn’t complete it, and I felt a little like it was probably my responsibility to do that as a filmmaker, and I didn’t.”

That was all Singer had to tell the outlet. He went on to speculate that certain characters would’ve made it to the end of that film had he had his way.

“I might not have killed all those characters. But that’s what was so fun about DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. We had a joke on set: ‘Hey Brian, you’re not only directing DAYS OF FUTURE PAST — you’re actually living it!’ I was going back and making changes in history. [With X-MEN: THE LAST STAND], I don’t fault anyone, including myself. It was just that circumstances didn’t allow for it to happen.”

With X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, we are rapidly closing in on around the same era in which the original X-MEN film began. Sure, there’s a good fifteen-plus years or so to play around with, but we’re almost there. With that, there comes the perpetual question that seems to come with every iteration of the X-MEN: will we see the original cast again?

“I hope so.

[…]

The night we had a little screening for the cast, I went and saw Patrick Stewart’s wife sing at a local venue with Ian McKellen. The two of us were sitting there watching Patrick’s lovely wife sing — she has a great voice — and I was thinking, yeah, at some point it would be lovely to see them all again. They’re all great actors and great people, and I had great experiences with them. I’d love to see that happen — it’s just you have to figure it out. How do you do that? You can’t do it for the sake of doing it — you have to do it right. Or else it’s just one of those cobbled-together things.”

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE hits theaters this weekend on May 27, 2016.

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SOURCE: Fandango