We reported earlier today that Bryan Singer has finalized his deal to direct X-Men: Apocalypse, with Deadline confirming that younger versions of Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey and others will be a part of the sequel. This means the production will have to recast these iconic characters, since X-Men: Apocalypse is set in the 1980s, several years before the original X-Men movie.

Here's an excerpt from Deadline's story which offers the first plot details.

"Apocalypse takes place a decade after Days of Future Past and is a seamless next step in the story. The altering of time has unleashed a new and uniquely powerful enemy. Charles (James McAvoy), Erik/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Hank/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) are joined by young Cyclops, Storm, Jean and others as the X-Men fight their most formidable foe yet: an ancient unrelenting force determined to cause an apocalypse unlike any in human history."

Just before the Bryan Singer news broke, X-Men producer Simon Kinberg held a video Q&A session with Yahoo!, where he offered an update on the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. X-Men: Days of Future Past was set both in the 1970s and present day, which allowed original X-Men stars such as Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart to interact with their younger counterparts. Since X-Men: Apocalypse is set in the 1980s, Simon Kinberg revealed that if they did bring any of the original characters back like Jean Grey, Storm and Cyclops, they would have to be re-cast.

"If we included some of the original X-Men, like Storm, Jean, Scott, and others, yeah we would have to recast them, because Apocalypse takes place a good twenty years before X-Men 1, which now insanely was fifteen years ago. It would be very hard to do. Halle (Berry), Famke (Janssen), and Jimmy (Marsden), and others have done such wonderful jobs of bringing those characters to life and they're so identified, those actors, with the parts now. So it would be a tall task, but I also would have said before First Class there would be no way we could find actors who could stand alongside Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, and I think we managed to with Michael (Fassbender) and James (McAvoy) finding their own interpretation of the characters, not doing an impersonation. So, are we going to have to recast? If some of those characters were in the movie we would, but we'll see."

A younger Scott Summers was already recast and appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, played by Tim Pocock. There is no indication that the actor will return to reprise the role, one that has been forgotten by many fans of the franchise.

When asked by a fan if new mutants from X-Men: Days of Future Past, such as Bishop (Omar Sy), will return for X-Men: Apocalypse, the producer had this to say.

"The X-Men film that we're working on now as everybody knows is X-Men: Apocalypse and that really follows the stories of the let's say First Class X-Men. Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, many others of that generation of X-Men. So, in future X-Men? Perhaps, but in Apocalypse it will really be the continuation of the 'past' of Days of Future Past."

The ending of X-Men: Days of Future Past left fans wondering if past movies such as X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are redundant. Simon Kinberg revealed that those movies are not redundant, but they did re-write the history shown in those movies.

"Redundant, no, but we certainly rewrite some of the history of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One of the things we talk about in X-Men: Days of Future Past is that you can change the future. It's like a stream that moves in one direction. You can create a new ripple in it, but you don't necessarily change the current. We did, in Days of Future Past, change some things, but, like you see at the end of the film, they end up back at the mansion, in the future, so most of the current continued in the same direction, so most of the things that would have happened in X1, X2 and X3, still happened, but with slight adjustments."

CLICK HERE to watch Simon Kinberg's video Q&A for X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse.