Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart aren’t the only champs of Logan. Anyone who’s walked out of the film has probably turned to their friend or loved one and said: “Damn, that little girl was fucking awesome.” Well, that little girl has a name, Dafne Keen, and her breakthrough performance has people talking about a spinoff, specifically her character’s creator Craig Kyle.
Way, way back in 2003, the Marvel Comics writer designed the role of X-23 for WB’s animated series X-Men: Evolution, and it became such a popular role that the hero was carried over into the comics. In 2006, he and co-writer Chris Yost penned Innocence Lost, which captured X-23’s origins in the lab, much of which inspired James Mangold’s adaptation.
Given that Logan is slicing its way through the box office and into critics’ hearts — like this one, who gave it an A and called it a “game-changing masterpiece” — The Hollywood Reporter sat down Kyle to talk about his thoughts on how he’d follow up the film. There’s a future to be had for Keen’s vicious role and he has one hell of an idea for one.
“We know the kids were created and tested. I’d love to see some of the stories that we told [in the comics], see as much as we can of how she came to be, but then really get into the stories of what she was forced to do an commit. She said she killed people. She said bad people. The bulk of who X-23 and Laura killed in the comic books were bad people, but she did kill some children. She did kill a whole press corps. I think there’s something powerful about watching her go through those horrors without any say and without any ability to not take those actions.
A story I always wanted to tell was, once she’s free and once she’s gone through what she’s gone through, the only way she can have a hope for a future is for her to go back and trace the lives that remained and were harmed by the actions she was forced to commit. You put her on this journey of redemption. She faces the families that lost fathers. The orphans, everyone that was touched by her horrific acts. And she can go through them one by one and face everyone affected by the murders she was forced to commit, if she can get to the end of that road without being killed by those that remain, there’s something on the other side of that. I think it would truly be transformative for the character.”
Granted, Kyle is only on the sidelines at the moment, though he admits he’d “love to be a part of it.” The good news is that both Mangold and Keen are game for a followup, as well, and it’s just a matter of time before Fox goes ahead with a sequel. While we wait, maybe you’ll want to take a read through News Editor Ben Kaye’s recent Comics to Screen column, in which he argues why more studios should take source material seriously and how it leads to a better film.
Or, perhaps you side with Mr. Justin Gerber, who feels Logan marks the end of the comic book movie:
