The New Mutants: Everything we learned from the movie's Comic-Con 2020 panel

Yep, Fox' X-Men swan-song The New Mutants is still planning to open in theatres August 28 as they hope to finally escape release date purgatory.

During their Comic-Con 2020 panel, the cast and director Josh Boone shared their excitement for the movie to finally come out, as well as sharing a look at the opening moments of the film and a new trailer. “We’re just all excited for the fans to be able to see it," Boone said. "Everybody's been waiting so long and they’re so enthusiastic online." It's nearing the three year anniversary of the very first trailer we saw back in 2017, so fans have definitely waited long enough to see Mirage, Magik, and the Demon Bear saga come to life. Here's hoping it was worth the wait.

Becoming a New Mutant

It's commonplace for actors to star in multiple franchises, and Maisie Williams felt right at home on set following a decade-long starring role in HBO's Game of Thrones. But she admitted she felt much more akin to her New Mutants character, Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane.

"When I play Arya I always have to command the room and be really brave and strong and that's kind of exhausting and I don't really feel like that," she said. "So it was really nice to play someone like Rahne who really is just sitting and watching and listening. She comes to life when she is with Dani, but in the group, she's somewhat quiet and to herself."

Anya Taylor Joy also enjoyed the action that comes with playing a superpowered teen (in her case, the little sister of X-Men's Colossus: Magik). "The whole arm and the sword... yeah you feel pretty cool."

Will The New Mutants feature the first LGTBQ+ superhero relationship onscreen?

The New Mutants can boast one of the first LGBTQ+ relationships in a superhero movie. Rahne and Dani/Mirage (Blu Hunt) share a connection from the get-go, and the cast has commented on how proud they are of the relationship they've built between the characters. Hunt even confessed to how nervous she was that she had to kiss Maisie Williams during their screen-test.

"In a world of typically masculine superheroes, it was just lovely to see these two fragile women who just protect one another and bring out the light in one another," said Williams. "I think it's important for people to see these types of relationships."

Director Boone added "Their relationship is certainly the spine of the movie. We wanted to have them be characters that you fell in love with as they fell in love."

The New Mutants new trailer

The New Mutants team revealed the opening moments of the movie as a special treat to fans. Titles appear on a night sky as Mirage talks in voiceover..."There's an old Native American proverb that says, 'Inside every person, there are two bears, forever locked in combat for your soul. One bear is all things good: compassion, love, trust. The other is all things evil: fear, shame and self-destruction." Boone explained how it was important to the team that Mirage's Native American ancestry was properly represented, and Hunt is a descendant of the Lakota tribe.

After watching her father die and waking up chained to a hospital bed, the scene slips into a brand new trailer – and it is seriously action-packed. A better look at the nightmare-inducing smiley-faced monsters along with a 20-foot tall Demon Bear was enough to keep us intrigued – for now. Also in the trailer were some snapshots of the mutant teens' abilities, along with Magik's iconic Soul Sword. Watch the whole panel below.

We'll be sure to keep you up to date with all the best bits from this year's San Diego Comic-Con, so keep checking back to see what you missed!

Millicent Thomas was once a freelance games and film journalist, writing for publications including GamesRadar, Total Film, Space.com, GamesIndustry.biz, Wireframe, Little White Lies, Culturess, SciFiNow, and more. She is now in international PR and marketing.