Sadie Sink opens up about Marvel role and prepping for “X-Men”: ‘It’s so exciting to think about what’s next’

Nick RomanoFri, August 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM UTC

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Sadie Sink talks Jean Grey and her Marvel future after ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’Credit: Brianna Bryson/WireImageKey Points -

Sadie Sink finally breaks silence on her secret Marvel role.

The Stranger Things alum talks filming Spider-Man: Brand New Day and what comes next.

The end of Brand New Day sets up the character’s return in the X-Men movie down the line.

This article contains spoilers from Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Sadie Sink can breathe a bit easier these days, now that the big secret she’s been keeping for more than a year is out.

With the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day came the grand unveiling of who she’s playing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Jean Grey, a mutant with the power of telepathy and telekinesis who becomes a core member of the X-Men team of heroes of the comics.

“It’s good. It’s a big relief,” Sink tells Entertainment Weekly on Thursday, days after the new Spider-Man premiered in theaters. Her phone has been blowing up “a little bit,” she says, amid a gigantic, record-breaking box-office haul that she can only describe as “wild.”

“You live with a little secret for so long that, now that it’s out and a lot of people are going to see this movie, I kind of forgot that was a part of the process — that people watch it,” the actress, known for Stranger Things and a Tony nomination for Broadway’s John Proctor Is the Villain, explains. “Which, obviously. But it’s just been in my own little inner circle for so long, so to spread out into the world, it’s surreal.”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, introduced Jean Elaine Grey as a new adversary for Peter Parker (Tom Holland). She uses mind control to attack facilities owned by Damage Control, a government organization dealing with enhanced individuals. It comes out in the wash that William Metzger (Tramell Tillman), the head of Damage Control, kidnapped her sister and fellow telepath Sara Grey (Olivia Booth-Ford) to conduct experiments.

Jean is captured and subjected to the same conditions as Sara, but when she realizes her lost sibling died in the hands of Damage Control, her powers super-charge. She holds miles of New York City in her psychic thrall before Spidey can break through to her. When last we see Jean, she hops on a bus and leaves town.

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Sink now sits down for one of her first interviews to talk the truth of her character, executing a new origin story for Jean Grey, and preparing for her role in the upcoming X-Men movie for director Jake Schreier.

Sadie Sink as Jean Grey in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’Credit: Sony

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I gotta ask you about Steve Lacy. He was on the [Spider-Man: Brand New Day] red carpet and blurted out your character name. Did you see that? What was your reaction to that?

SADIE SINK: Honestly, my first reaction was less about the spoiler of it all. I’m such a huge fan of his. I was like, “Oh my God, he likes my character.” I liked what he said about [Jean], too. I was like, “He’s right. I agree with everything you said.” And then I was like, “Oh, wait. Yeah, people aren’t supposed to know that.” But it was a day before it was gonna come out, and so he set me free in a lot of ways.

So, now that we can actually talk about the specifics of this character, what was the journey like for you with Marvel? I remember you said that you noticed the Jean Grey rumor starting online even before you knew you were gonna be involved with Spider-Man.

Yeah. And that was all I really knew about her. I’d heard her name before, just because there’d been rumors, and then I met with Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios President] and Louis [D’Esposito, Co-President]. They explained the role and what my involvement would look like and why they thought of me for it. It was not on my bingo card, but once it was there, I was like, “I think this is something that I would wanna do.”

And of course, I knew Destin, too, because I worked with him when I was 14 or something [on The Glass Castle]. So that was nice to know that he’d be directing it and I’d have someone I was familiar with. I did my research on her, and what excited me about this iteration that they had planned for me was that we were meeting her not at a point where she’s a hero, but at a point where she’s just a hurt, young girl who doesn’t know what her relationship to her power is. It’s only ever caused harm in her life. Jean Grey is a hero, she’s a good person, but if it takes more to become that and there’s the struggle of it first, I think that just is so compelling.

Did you have any reference points for Jean Grey? I grew up in the ‘90s with the X-Men cartoon, and then Famke Janssen came along.

I looked at everything just to see what the throughline was and also the physicality of it. It looks different in each version, too, how she uses the powers. I was like, I gotta figure something out and stick with it. But this version that they were writing just felt so different from what we’d seen. I was more focused on the version of her that was on the page for this moment in her life and in this universe and what I could bring to that...It’s a different actor, so it’s inherently just gonna be a different take, but especially for this, it was a different side of her.

But yeah, the powers were something [where] I was like, “Okay, wait, how do I do that?”

I was concerned that you might do something like put your fingers to your temple. Was that ever a conversation?

I remember it not really being much of a conversation at all. There was a pressure that I felt of, whatever I land on, I have to stick with. But it can evolve, too, because her powers evolve and it’ll just change as it goes. But what I landed on was not looking like much effort at all...It’s more in the eyes because her power is, at least in this movie, invisible. So when she’s using them, it should also be invisible.

Sadie Sink talks Jean Grey role in the Marvel Cinematic UniverseCredit: Amy Sussman/Getty; Marvel

This is really a brand-new origin story for this character. It really deviates from a lot of the traditional storylines that we get for her. In terms of the character work and the character building, what sort of things did you grasp onto as your anchors for this Jean Grey?

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I think the biggest thing that me and Destin talked about was how hurt she is and how she’s not a villain, and to not really play into the pressure of being the villain in a Spider-Man movie, but rather just playing into being a hurt teenager...all coming from a place of hurt and loneliness and desperation. I think that’s why people love the X-Men series so much, because all of these heroes maybe didn’t start out as heroes, or their powers have caused a lot of struggle in their lives or been really inconvenient in a lot of ways. They’re not things that they asked for.

So to show her not doing immediate good with it, but rather she’s just learning that she has this ability and her sister has it, and it’s not used in a malicious way at all, it’s just discovering this part of themselves that they were born with, but it’s also taken everything away from them. So, of course, that’s not necessarily gonna make a hero.

The paparazzi photos that came out [on set] with the jacket, everyone was like, “They’re covering her up.” Having seen the film, that was your outfit for most of the movie.

My first day on set, I think I wore a ski mask and a hood and gloves. I was completely covered. Also, that paparazzi shot was the one day I was on location and then, other than that, I was inside of a soundstage in a chair for the most part.

Did you shoot that park bench scene with Olivia outside, too, or was that also in the safety of the studio?

That was in a studio, as well. Some of her stuff was in an actual park and the running, but then the bench wasn’t.

Looking back on the rumor mill and all the speculation that was going around online, are there any comical things that stick out to you?

Well, I remember when those paparazzi shots came out, people were really looking closely at what I was wearing and what role that might be for. But what was always funny to me was that everyone was right in the first place, that it was Jean Grey. And then it just got further and further from that. But it was always Jean Grey. They were right the first time.

The end of this movie really sets up the X-Men as they will exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m curious if you’ve met with Jake Schreier [X-Men director] at all or if you’ve had any early conversations about that movie yet.

Yeah, I met with Jake. I met him the first time he came to see John Proctor. It was this weird thing of being at the early stages of putting X-Men together, but he knew I was the only piece of the puzzle at that point, because I was the only mutant that had been established. So, yeah, a lot of talking to him about casting and where the script was going and all of that. It’s interesting to be at the very beginning of it. Now that it’s out and X-Men is being talked about and it’s happening, it’s so exciting to think about what’s next for her.

Sadie Sink with the cast of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Sony Pictures via Getty

It just came out that Kit Connor is being eyed for Cyclops. What’s your reaction to that news?

There’s so many rumors online, but overall, it’s been exciting to see, even if you don’t know what’s true or not, just how much intrigue there is and how much buzz about the movie. I know what’s true. And also, just the overall excitement about what’s to come is super positive.

This is the start of a new era of X-Men and Marvel. Kevin Feige is talking about how these characters are gonna be so core to the MCU moving forward. Does it feel like a unique position [in that] they are building an entire universe basically around you and Jean Grey?

Yeah, it’s really cool. Also, I think it was such a smart choice, too, to start young and have this younger generation of mutants. It’s a cool take on it, but as it starts to assemble and everything, I’m really excited about having a group of people to feel like you’re on a team with.

Are you involved in screen testing for the auditions?

Yeah. There are certain characters that it’s important to establish, like, do you have chemistry with this person? That’s always gonna be a part of the process. It’s just exciting to step back into the character a bit and think about, we met her in the Spider-Man movie at a really challenging point of her life, so what does she look like going forward? With what she’s learned, how has she changed and who is she at her core when she’s not looking for V-Max and strapped to a chair and all of that? So, yeah, I have been involved, of course, in figuring that out.

The film [X-Men] is earmarked for a 2028 release. Do you have a plan in place for when filming’s gonna start, when you have to get into official X-Men mode?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know when that’s happening, which is good. It reminds me of Stranger Things, too, of knowing that you have to do another season, but not knowing what the plan is or not having scripts yet, but having general ideas of where it’s going. So I think it’s a formula that I’m very used to.

This article has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.

on Entertainment Weekly

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