Bill Skarsgård On Why The Crow Failed, Professor X Rumors, And His Interest In Playing Constantine

Marvel Studios is gearing up to unleash "Avengers: Doomsday" in 2026. Meanwhile, the studio is preparing to reintroduce us to the X-Men, with a reboot film overseen by "Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier, which has already cast some impressive talent ahead of its 2028 debut. One actor who won't be in the film, however is Bill Skarsgård, who was supposedly in contention for the role of Charles Xavier but has now downplayed his connection to the movie following the official casting of Christopher Abbott.

via: CBM

The Crow was released in 2024 and kicked off its run with a disappointing $4.6 million opening weekend before ending its time at the global box office with a mere $24.1 million on a reported $50 million budget. Critically, the reboot flopped with 22% on Rotten Tomatoes.

1994's The Crow starred the late Brandon Lee and remains a beloved cult classic. It's also a movie many of its fans have long argued should be left alone and never remade. That's not how Hollywood typically works, but the remake, based on the 1989 comic book series by James O'Barr, was largely rejected by audiences.

Eternals star Bill Skarsgård played the title character, and while his performance was received fairly well, the project was considered a complete misfire and a rare misstep for the actor best known for playing Pennywise the Clown.

In an interview with Josh Horowitz, Skarsgård was asked what, if anything, he learned from making The Crow. 

"I think the lesson was that I'm not signing on to anything without a finished script," the actor said. "But it's surprising how common it is that something gets green-lit and then you're struggling with finishing the script because the dates are already set and the studio's already locked everything in motion. And it's like, 'Oh, the script needed...'" 

"So that was something that Rupert [Sanders] and I just struggled with. We were like, 'Okay, the first script came in two months before we started to shoot.' It was an insanely rushed process in that regard," Skarsgård continued. "But I don't regret any of the roles that I've done. And I think they could be good experiences; they could be bad experiences. But how you learn from them is really what it's about."

More recently, his name has been attached to Marvel Studios' upcoming X-Men reboot. Rumour has it that he was in the mix to play the MCU's new Professor X, and Horowitz asked Skarsgård whether there was any truth to the claims. 

"I didn't read any scripts. It's Jake [Schreier], right?" he said, potentially playing coy about his potential X-Men involvement, despite the role officially going to Christopher Abbott. "I had a meeting with him, and I liked him. But no, it hasn't been close on a big [role]."

Skarsgård remains open to a superhero role, and in the wake of last night's John Constantine news, it turns out that's a character he'd be eager to take a crack at. "I thought Constantine was cool. I had an idea that Andy Muschietti and I could do Constantine. I just thought that it [would blend] truly visual horror and superhero. It's a cool thing." 

The John Wick: Chapter 4 star would be an intriguing choice for DC's Hellblazer. Muschietti supposedly remains attached to helm The Brave and the Bold for DC Studios, but perhaps The Flash helmer's talents would be better suited to a supernatural superhero story like John Constantine.

You can hear more from Skarsgård in the player below.