As X-Men founder Charles Xavier, James McAvoy plays the world’s most powerful telepath, who has unfettered access to the whole gamut of human emotions. But his newest project will see him mostly unaware of all those troublesome feelings—initially, at least. According to Deadline, the X-Men: Apocalypse star is in talks to headline the sci-fi film Extinction, from Good Universe and Mandeville Films.
David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing Extinction, but the search for a director is ongoing. The project already has a whole slew of writers, including Marco Polo’s Brad Caleb Kane, hard at work ironing out the plot points. Right now, the story sounds like a pastiche comprising the plots of previous sci-fi films: McAvoy is playing a mechanic and father who “realizes that he is the first robot to feel human emotion,” which makes him sound like one of Blade Runner’s replicants. This man/machine is plagued by bad dreams, not unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, but his discovery of emotions inspires him to lead a revolution, though we’re not sure against whom—his auto-repair overlords, or the unfeeling? Does this mean there’s a bit of Equilibrium in there, too?
Besides making a compelling case for keeping a dream journal, Extinction will also feature an army invasion bent on the destruction of the Earth. We’re not sure if that means that there will be another uprising aside from the McAvoy-led one, or if there’s an element of Independence Day here, too.