Cast returns confirmed for X-Men: Apocalypse

Bryan Singer has confirmed the return of several X-Men cast members for the third part in the franchise’s prequel trilogy, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’.

Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult are all on board for the sequel, which will be based on Marvel’s 90s crossover storyline, Age of Apocalypse.

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Set in an alternate timeline, the arc saw the titular mutant villain conquer the world, making mutants the ruling class and killing millions of humans in the process.

"The movie won't necessarily create an alternate universe, but there may be some swapping things that I'm playing with," Singer told EW.

"From a visual standpoint it actually may be a bigger movie than 'Days of Future Past' because there'll be disaster movie imagery, like the title would imply," added writer-producer Simon Kinberg.

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Upcoming instalment ‘Days of Future Past’ will provide clues to the third film, but in a subtle way.

"You won't feel at the end of the movie that it set up 'Apocalypse'," explained Singer. "What it does is it sets up possibilities. But what we'll discover in 'Apocalypse' is that events in this movie made that happen.

"'Apocalypse' deals with ancient mutancy. What would humans have thought mutants were? What would mutants think humans were? You're dealing with gods and things like that. And what if one survived and what if that found its way into our world?"

Singer also revealed that he’s considering introducing more fan favourite X-Men, including Gambit and Nightcrawler, adding: “I’m excited because I want to start introducing familiar characters at different ages and also explore the ‘80s.”

Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, and Evan Peters also star in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, which hits UK cinemas on May 22. X-Men: Apocalypse will be released on May 27, 2016.