Actor KJ Apa confirmed that he participated in casting for Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot film and advanced to the actual testing stage, but ultimately did not land the role. He revealed this while promoting his new film Jimmy, without specifying which mutant character he had auditioned for.
KJ Apa is best known for his role as Archie Andrews in Riverdale. Regarding the character he auditioned for, some fans speculated it might be Gambit, while others associated him with Cyclops based on his image in Riverdale, but neither KJ Apa nor Marvel has confirmed these claims. Cyclops was already announced to be played by Kit Connor at that year's D23 event.
KJ Apa previously auditioned for the role of Spider-Man in a Marvel film, admitting that his performance was not ideal. He was originally set to play Zan, one half of the Wonder Twins, in an HBO Max live-action movie, but the project was canceled following the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2022.
Another Riverdale actor, Charles Melton, was previously rumored to be a top contender for the role of Beast (Hank McCoy), but he is not expected to join the cast at this time. What can be confirmed is that KJ Apa auditioned for the X-Men reboot film and was not selected; the specific character he tried out for and Marvel's final casting process have not been disclosed.