The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes writer Michael Lesslie tapped to pen Marvel’s upcoming X-Men movie.

Since the moment it was revealed that Disney was considering acquiring 20th Century Fox, Marvel fans have been imagining the X-Men joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’re still a number of years away from Marvel’s first X-Men movie, but the project has taken a big step forward. Deadline reports that Michael Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) is now in negotiations to serve as the writer of the X-Men movie.

When the WGA strike concluded last year, X-Men was the first project Marvel Studios began tackling, taking pitches for the movie from a variety of writers. Although we’ve seen several X-Men characters appear in the MCU since the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, notably Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Beast in The Marvels, I’m grateful Marvel is taking their time with the X-Men movie. Done right, this could be the cornerstone of the entire MCU moving forward.

In addition to The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Michael Lesslie is also known for Macbeth, Assassin’s Creed, The Little Drummer Girl, and the upcoming Now You See Me 3.

With the massive success of X-Men ’97 on Disney+, audiences are clearly hungry for more mutants. The first season of the animated series concluded last week with much acclaim, and a second season is already in production, with a third in development.

More to come…