Drew Starkey Just Threw Cold Water On Those X-Men Rumors While Leaving The Door Wide Open
Drew Starkey is having quite the year. The ‘Outer Banks’ star wraps up his run as Rafe Cameron when the Netflix drama’s fifth and final season premieres on August 20, leaving him at a career crossroads as he looks toward new projects. That timing has made him an easy target for superhero speculation, and lately the rumors have been swirling harder than ever.
Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ reboot has become the industry’s favorite guessing game this month. Director Jake Schreier’s film is set for a May 2028 release, marking the first X-Men entry made under Marvel Studios since Disney acquired Fox, and Sadie Sink, Kit Connor, Samara Weaving, Christopher Abbott, Maya Boyd and Inde Navarrette were all introduced as the new mutant lineup during Marvel’s D23 panel. With Cyclops, Jean Grey, Emma Frost and more already locked in, fans have spent weeks trying to figure out who else might slip into the cast.
That is where Starkey’s name kept coming up, and now the actor himself has weighed in. Asked directly about the swirling talk that he could join the ‘X-Men’ reboot, Starkey did not exactly confirm anything, but he did not dismiss it either. “I’ve never even heard of it,” he said. “That world is definitely interesting to me. It’s almost our modern day Shakespeare in a way. I’m totally open to it.”
The comment lands as the latest twist in a rumor mill that has followed Starkey for weeks. Industry insider Jeff Sneider had previously reported that Starkey was considered the favorite to take over the Cyclops role from James Marsden, part of a wider wave of casting buzz that also linked Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton to the project. That particular chase ended when the Cyclops role ultimately went to Kit Connor, closing the door on that specific storyline, at least for now.
Even so, Starkey has made clear he is not ruling superhero work out entirely. In a separate conversation, he told GQ that he remains genuinely open to stepping into either Marvel or DC territory, adding that landing a role in either universe would be exciting to him. Coming from an actor who just spent years anchoring one of Netflix’s biggest teen dramas, that kind of openness has fans dreaming up casting scenarios of their own.
Do you think Drew Starkey will be in the X-Men reboot?
Starkey certainly is not short on options. Beyond ‘Outer Banks,’ he has the A24 film ‘Onslaught’ arriving in early September, plus the Apple TV series ‘Lucky’ alongside Anya Taylor-Joy. He is also attached to the upcoming ‘Deep Cuts,’ for which he reportedly learned guitar and piano, giving him a genuinely packed slate heading into 2027.
With mutants now officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more casting reveals expected in the months ahead, Starkey’s comments have only added fuel to the fire rather than putting it out. Whether he eventually ends up suiting up as an X-Man remains to be seen, but for now, fans are left parsing every word for clues.
Given how open he sounds, do you think Drew Starkey should eventually get his shot in Marvel’s mutant universe, and if so, which X-Men character would actually fit him best?
