Inde Navarrette already knows how closely X-Men fans will be watching her version of Rogue. She sounds determined to give them little reason to think she took the assignment lightly.
The 25-year-old actress is preparing to play the mutant in Jake Schreier’s upcoming X-Men movie after Marvel unveiled her casting earlier this year.
“I’m doing everything humanly possible because I love that character,” Navarrette told the Los Angeles Times. “I’ve studied that character. I want to do it justice for myself, for Jake, for what they want to portray and also for what I as a fan want her to be like. I’m doing everything, exclamation point.”
Navarrette did not reveal plot details or explain how Marvel intends to distinguish its Rogue from previous screen versions, leaving much of her interpretation of Anna Marie under wraps.
Navarrette Wants Audiences to Trust the Characters She Chooses
Navarrette discussed Rogue while explaining how the success of Obsession has affected the roles she wants to take next. With more freedom to choose projects, she said she wants viewers to believe there is genuine interest behind the characters she accepts rather than seeing each job as another paycheck.
“I want them to see me as somebody that they can trust with characters,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
Navarrette said that standard applies even when viewers ultimately dislike a movie or one of her characters. What matters to her is that audiences recognize she cared about the role and believed she could transform herself for it.
Her career ambitions also extend beyond acting. Navarrette told the Times that she eventually wants to write and direct her own movies, though playing Rogue is one of the major projects currently ahead of her.
She Is Looking to Texas and Mississippi for Rogue’s Voice
Navarrette offered a more specific clue about her performance in September when she discussed Rogue’s Southern accent with Entertainment Tonight.
She said she spent a significant portion of her childhood in Texas and singled out Corpus Christi when discussing the Southern women she remembers from growing up. Those memories are among the influences she is considering as she develops Rogue’s voice.
Mississippi will be important as well. Rogue is traditionally from the state in Marvel Comics, and Navarrette said she wants to visit it as part of her preparation rather than relying entirely on the Texas voices she already knows.
“I wanna really do her justice,” she said.
The comments give fans one of the clearest indications so far that Rogue’s recognizable Southern voice will be part of Navarrette’s preparation for the role.
Marvel’s New X-Men Team Is Already Taking Shape
Marvel Studios formally introduced Navarrette as Rogue during its D23 presentation in August, alongside several of the actors who will make up the new mutant team.
Sadie Sink will play Jean Grey, Kit Connor is Scott Summers/Cyclops, Christopher Abbott will portray Professor Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving is Emma Frost and Maya Boyd will play Storm. Adam Driver was announced as Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mister Sinister, the movie’s confirmed villain.
Variety reported the lineup following Marvel’s D23 presentation, where Driver revealed his role by video.
Schreier, who previously directed Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, is directing the new film. Marvel has scheduled X-Men for theatrical release on May 5, 2028.