'X-Men' Director Bryan Singer on the 'Rogue Cut' and Why Apocalypse Will Be the Ultimate Villain

Like the X-Men themselves, director Bryan Singer has taken a detour into the past. While finishing up his latest mutant saga, X-Men: Apocalypse (in theaters May 27, 2016), Singer went back to 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past and added 17 minutes of footage featuring Rogue (Anna Paquin), the power-absorbing mutant whose big scenes were cut from the theatrical version. The “Rogue Cut” of X-Men: Days of Future Past will be released on Blu-Ray, DVD and VOD on July 14. Talking to Yahoo Movies, Singer filled us in on the secrets of the Rogue Cut, and dropped some hints about what we’ll see in Apocalypse. Watch the video above.

“I’ve never done a director’s cut or an extended edition of a movie I’ve made, but in this particular case, I felt it was an opportunity to do something unique,” Singer says of X-Men: Days of Future Past — The Rogue Cut. In addition to an extended climax involving Rogue, prepare to see some dazzling effects shots that Singer wasn’t able to include in the theatrical version, but finished in time for the new DVD.

Looking forward to X-Men: Apocalypse, Singer says audiences will be surprised to meet the younger versions of characters like Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Storm (Alexandra Shipp). “These are very different characters than they were in the films X-Men 1, 2, and 3,” the director reveals. But the character who will make the biggest impression on audiences, says Singer, is Apocalypse himself (Oscar Isaac), an immortal mutant bent on destruction.

“X-Men has always centered around the fight between mutants and humans. This one’s a bit different,” Singer explains. “It deals with the concept of ancient mutanism, gods and men. It deals with issues that are global. Apocalypse makes no distinction between humans and mutants, only between the weak and the strong.”