Jessica Chastain as an intergalactic empress just made 'X-Men' interesting again

20th Century Fox is ready to take on the Dark Phoenix. Again.

Plans for X-Men: Dark Phoenix are coming together, with a cast and director now firmly in place. That cast will include two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain, who is in talks to play Shi'ar empress Lilandra, Mashable has confirmed.

In the comics, Lilandra is more like an antagonist than an evil villain. When Jean's extreme powers wipe out another planet, Lilandra tries to stop her from causing further destruction. But that, of course, puts her up against the X-Men, who want to protect Jean.

Chastain joins returning stars Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender. Also returning is Jennifer Lawrence, despite earlier hints that last year's Apocalypse could be her final X-Men movie.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix will mark the directing debut of Simon Kinberg, who's been with the X-Men franchise as a writer and producer since the last time they tried to adapt the Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics -- 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand.

The studio has X-Men: Dark Phoenix set for release on November 2, 2018. It'll be the third of three X-Men movies out next year, after New Mutants (April 13) and Deadpool 2 (June 1).

Deadline originally broke the news Wednesday.