What kind of actor packs their PlayStation 5 into a suitcase for every job — even when it takes up half the luggage allowance and makes the bag too heavy for anyone else to lift? As it turns out, the same actor Marvel and director Jake Schreier just chose to play Emma Frost in the upcoming X-Men reboot.
Samara Weaving’s casting as the iconic mutant telepath was confirmed by Deadline in late July, with sources reporting she was chosen after an extensive audition process that concluded with final tests in early July. X-Men fans reacted enthusiastically — but once the news circulated online, a different kind of appreciation kicked in: fans discovered that Weaving is, quietly, one of Hollywood’s most committed gamers.
A Casting That Genuinely Fits
Emma Frost has one of comics’ longer and more complicated histories. The White Queen began as a villain — a telepath and occasional diamond-form powerhouse who ran the Hellfire Club and clashed repeatedly with the X-Men before gradually moving toward antihero and then X-Man territory. She is glamorous, ruthless, and unapologetically theatrical, and finding an actor who can carry all of that is not simple.
Weaving’s credits include Ready or Not, Scream 6, and Babylon — a range that suggests genuine versatility rather than type-casting. She joins a reboot directed by Jake Schreier, the filmmaker behind Thunderbolts*, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige overseeing the project. January Jones previously played Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class, and the character had a brief cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Weaving is the first casting confirmed for the full MCU reboot.
Marvel has not commented officially. No premiere date has been announced. Other roles — including Cyclops and Mystique — are still in casting, with reports suggesting Inde Navarrette has met with Schreier about the shape-shifter role.
A PS5 in Every Suitcase
In March 2026, Weaving spoke with IGN alongside fellow Ready or Not 2 star Kathryn Newton — another actor with well-documented gaming habits — about their shared love for video games. Weaving’s list of favourites covered a broad sweep: Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter all got name-checked.
Her relationship with Mortal Kombat is particularly committed. Weaving named Kitana as her main — and was emphatic about it. “She’s my gal. She’s my fave,” she told IGN, adding that fighting games “speak to her” in a way she cannot entirely explain. “I can beat a lot of people at Mortal Kombat. I don’t know why.”
“All my jobs, I pack my PlayStation 5 in my suitcase, which is insane. It takes up half the suitcase and no one can lift it and they all hate me. But I bring it to every AirBnB and hotel that I stay at.” — Samara Weaving, Polygon’s Shelf Quest (June 2026)
The Shelf Quest interview, with Polygon in June 2026, came before the Emma Frost casting was public. She described herself as someone who gravitates toward open-world games — “I like an open world” — but finds surprising success in the tighter, reflex-heavy world of fighting games. Rivals and Marvel Rivals also featured in her recent rotation.
Samara Weaving’s gaming favourites: Assassin’s Creed · Red Dead Redemption 2 · Hogwarts Legacy · Mortal Kombat (main: Kitana) · Street Fighter · Marvel Rivals
Why It Matters Beyond the Novelty
The gaming angle is not just a fun footnote. Weaving’s enthusiasm for games means she arrives at Emma Frost with a genuine understanding of the character’s broader cultural context — Emma has featured prominently in Marvel games, including Marvel vs. Capcom and multiple X-Men titles, and the X-Men franchise has a long history with gaming audiences going back to the 1990s arcade classics.
More practically, the casting has energised a section of the fanbase that might otherwise have watched the MCU’s X-Men reboot from a distance. Weaving is not just credible on paper for the role — she is someone the gaming community already feels a connection to, which gives the project an unusual cross-audience appeal before a single frame of filming has been confirmed.
Whether the X-Men reboot can match the cross-cultural excitement of its casting news is the bigger question. For now, Weaving’s PS5 travels with her — and if the project moves anything like the God of War series, which just confirmed Dave Bautista as Kratos, gaming adaptations are having a particularly interesting summer.
