'Dark Phoenix' Star Tye Sheridan Reveals Original Ending Included Skrulls

X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the final entry in Fox’s X-Men franchise, has been met with a less-than-ideal response since its premiere last week, receiving poor reviews and earning a franchise low $33 million in its opening weekend. This lackluster response has focused attention on the film’s troubled production, with many exploring how the film changed over the course of its development--including star Tye Sheridan, who this week teased the film’s original ending.

According to CinemaBlend, Sheridan, who plays Cyclops in Dark Phoenix and previous entry X-Men: Apocalypse, revealed that the original ending included a confrontation at the United Nations, an ending more focused in on Professor Xavier, Cyclops, and Jean Grey, and the appearance of the alien Skrulls.

“Originally, it was scripted that Charles and Scott go to the U.N. because...they're going to try to tell the President that, ‘Hey, we're under attack by aliens and they’ve now captured Jean Grey,’” Sheridan said, noting that his memory of the ending is somewhat foggy. “And then Jean comes down in the front of the U.N., and...there is this huge battle between the guards at the U.N. and Jean Grey, and all the guards turn out to be Skrulls….and then Jean comes down and basically fights all of the Skrulls off, and then blasts back off into space. [She] basically says goodbye to Scott and Charles. And then it's all over, I guess.”

This version of the ending, besides being dramatically different from the final version, resonates with the previous speculation that the film required extensive reshoots so that it would not be too similar to Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, which heavily featured the Skrulls. Sheridan’s commentary also follows reports that the film’s ending was changed to offer a more dramatic ending for the entire team.

Considering Dark Phoenix’s performance at the box office and among critics, we wonder whether this original ending would have fit better with the movie, or if it was simply fundamentally flawed. Perhaps one day, the original footage will come to light.