James McAvoy prepares for X-Men: Dark Phoenix, first set photo debuts Production hasn’t even officially begun on the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but the cast and crew are already preparing for the cameras to roll later this summer. Star James McAvoy took to Instagram to tease his return as Professor X in a rather unique way, which you can find below along with the first photo of one of the sets (via CBM)! Longtime X-Men series writer and producer Simon Kinberg will write and direct X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which will bring back the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse, including Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler).