Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse was Fox’s most recent attempt to add another chapter to the X-Men franchise. Unfortunately,  due to its poorer than expected performance at the box office and several of the talent’s contracts coming to an end, many in the industry are beginning to speculate where the mutant franchise is headed next.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that Fox may “reconfigure” the X-Universe. This means Singer likely will not be returning as director for the franchise, but writer Simon Kinberg is working on a new script. Sources say that the new screenplay will include Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence’s respected characters. Spin-off films on Fox’s slate will be unaffected by the reconfiguration, but those already have problems of their own. Deadpool 2 and Gambit are still searching for filmmakers, but Fox is confident that the films will get back on track soon enough. Reports of Deadpool 3 are already in the air.

Overall this is expected news if you follow the franchise closely. Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past already put this move in motion when they decided to rewrite X-Men history at the film’s conclusion. We can expect the next X-Men film to follow the younger versions of such X-Men like Jean Grey and Scott Summers, along with all the other members of the team that were assembled in Apocalypse.