Rebecca Romijn Is No. 1

Few performers working today feel simultaneously so visible and anonymous as Rebecca Romijn. A generation of X-Men fans rightly recognize her as an icon for her portrayal of the shape-shifting mutant Mystique in Fox’s X-Men movies. But as Romijn reveals to Inverse years after the fact, few fans today actually recognize the actor beneath the makeup.

“I’m so camouflaged,” Romijn muses. “People don’t know what I look like in real life, … but it’s nice also to disappear into a character that way. A big part of getting into character in the first three X-Men movies for me was going through that makeup process.”

Romijn might have a small fascination with transformation. When she took on a role in another beloved franchise, breathing life into a famous-yet-nebulous Star Trek character, she got the chance to disappear again — only without the nine-hour process that transformed her into the blue-skinned, scaly Mystique. The actor dons a brunette wig to play Una Chin-Riley, the first officer aboard a pre-Kirk Starship Enterprise, in Strange New Worlds — and though she may otherwise look human, she’s concealing a host of genetic augments that make her something of a pariah across the galaxy. In 2023’s Strange New Worlds Season 2, Una was forced to defend the modifications that she’d had since childhood, elements of her being that she hid to gain entry into Starfleet.

The parallels between Una’s journey as an augment and Mystique’s life as a persecuted mutant are hard to ignore, and the lines blur further as Romijn returns as the latter in a much bigger, splashier superhero movie, Avengers: Doomsday. The upcoming film was one part of a marathon shoot for the actor, who darted back and forth between the Strange New Worlds set in Toronto (where the final two seasons were filmed) and London, where Anthony and Joe Russo are assembling a mega-team of heroes from Marvel’s multiverse to face off against a brand-new threat. Romijn describes the summer of 2025 as “a blur,” worrying more about spending time with her twin daughters — who, at 17, will soon leave the nest — than the neuroses that once kept her up at night.

“At the very beginning, I had impostor syndrome,” Romijn says. “I was really young, and I was like ... ‘This is a fluke. They’re about to find out that I have no business being here.’”

“We’re definitely going to see much more action from Una [in] Season 4.”

So much has changed in the 20-odd years since Romijn last tangled with her X-Men team. Patrick Stewart has only grown into his role as a sage, paternal leader in both the Marvel and Star Trek universe, but Romijn remembers him as a heartthrob — a “naughty and delicious” rascal with “this loud boisterous laugh” — on the set of X-Men. “I kind of fell in love with him,” she reveals, recalling the cast’s first teambuilding dinner at a crowded pizza place in Toronto. “He strolled in with this tight T-shirt on and slid into the booth next to me. I was like, ‘OK, Patrick Stewart!’”

The process of making a superhero movie has also undergone a transformation, with the explosion of the MCU bringing more studio and fan scrutiny — not to mention budget. A movie like Doomsday costs over $400 million to make, while X-Men in 2000 cost around $75 million. That Romijn gets to bask in this new world is a kind of kismet that’s been years in the making. In an interview with Inverse, Romijn reflects on the journey, Marvel’s “slightly different take” on Mystique, and No. 1’s new lease on life.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Diving into Strange New Worlds Season 4, knowing the end is coming, feels so bittersweet.

I know. It does, and yet it doesn’t, because I think if you make it to Season 5, that’s considered how long a series is nowadays. Our two strongest seasons are Season 4 and Season 5, so our best work in this show is yet to come. I’m so proud of our work, so it is bittersweet, yet also… it’s pretty sweet! We have been so lucky to have Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers running this show. They just really seem to have their finger on the pulse of Trek and these characters and these individual missions of the week.

You do feel that sense of character getting even stronger in Season 4, especially with Una. She’s coming into herself more. She’s cracking jokes; she’s leading away missions…

Yeah. Now that she has been cleared and is now living her most authentic life, we get to see a much freer Una. And I think she’s probably all along been champing at the bit to have more time on planet and lead more away missions. We’re definitely going to see much more action from Una [in] Season 4 and Season 5.

The Una-centric episodes in Season 4 have this great vintage Trek feel to them.

It was also really fun doing what we call “the Jurassic Park episode.” That [dinosaur] puppet was from Jurassic Park, and it was incredible watching the puppeteer work it. It was a little bit like I kind of wanted to watch the puppet show, to be honest. I was like, “OK, stay in character, stay in the scene, stay in the scene.” But the puppeteer was making faces with this puppet. His eyes were moving; he had facial expressions. It was awesome.

Una is one of a handful of characters you’ve played that is persecuted and later becomes this symbol of living in your truth. Do you think that’s a happy accident, or are you subconsciously kind of drawn to characters like Una and Mystique?

It’s so funny how a career path presents itself, because none of this is by any grand design. I sort of made the connection after [Strange New Worlds episode] “Ad Astra per Aspera,” this connection between other characters that I’ve played being persecuted or being sidelined. I have thought to myself, “Is this a weird coincidence, or is this just what I’m drawn to?” I guess I’m drawn to things that I would watch myself, or things that I watched as a child. I watched the original Star Trek in reruns. I was introduced to it by my mom, which I think is how most of our cast was introduced to Star Trek.

I think moms really want to inspire curiosity and a sense of exploration and a sense of the world being so much greater than just what we have here. These are the conversations I used to have with my mom when we would watch Star Trek when I was a kid. And then I watched X-Men, the TV show, when I was a kid in the ’90s and read some of the comic books; I never in a million years thought I would be a part of these franchises. But I guess my first thought is “Would I be into this myself?” And the answer is yes. I also consider my daughters when I take on characters, and for some reason, in these sort of niche genres of sci-fi and comic book, the female characters have been really fun to play. Just strong, layered, interesting female characters that don’t always exist in other genres.

“A big part of getting into character in the first three X-Men movies for me was going through that makeup process, because that’ll work your nerves.”

Are your daughters fans of your work?

They are. A lot of it was because when they were younger, and I had to leave for long, long, long periods of time, I wanted to make sure that whatever I am creating is something that I can share with them and that might be interesting to them. I’m not exactly sure how they feel [now], but they’re also 17. They’re almost 18, [so] they’re a little nonplussed. They’re a little too cool. They are spreading their wings and doing their own thing. It’s coming so fast.

Last year was kind of a blur between shooting two seasons back to back for Star Trek and then working on Avengers: Doomsday as well. I was literally thinking about how many weeks I’ve got left with my daughters before they leave the house. This year I’m home a lot more, so I can really spend some time with them.

I was thrilled when I learned you were returning to play Mystique. She’s such a huge character for the kids who grew up watching the X-Men films. How often do you hear that in the wild?

It’s funny because Mystique and Una are probably the characters I’m most recognizable for, but both are ... I’m so camouflaged. My Una wig throws people off, and Mystique makeup has ... like people don’t know what I look like in real life. I would say in general, a lot of people don’t necessarily put two and two together, which is fine — but it’s nice also to disappear into a character that way. A big part of getting into character in the first three X-Men movies for me was going through that makeup process, because that’ll work your nerves.

Was it like nine hours or something like that?

Nine hours every day, yeah. I’d go in at midnight to be ready at 9 a.m., and then I would want to shoot as much as possible. I would end up shooting like maybe 15 hours, and then it would take another three or four hours to take everything off. So I’d work like 24 hours straight, and then I’d have to have 24 hours off in between so that my skin could breathe because underneath all those prosthetics — which was on roughly 75% of my body — there was nowhere for the sweat to go when I was doing all the action stuff. And so I would blister underneath my prosthetics, and I would have to take 24 hours off in between with healing salves.

But it was worth it. I’m telling you, that makeup process and that costume was the most beautiful costume I’ve ever seen. Every time we were finished with it, I would look in the mirror and go, “Wow, guys, it’s really beautiful.” But there are parts of it that made me irritable and put me in the perfect headspace to play somebody like Mystique.

When you were asked to come back for Doomsday, were you like, “Is it going to be another nine hours?” Or were you ready to go again?

First of all, it was a call that I was not expecting at all. And it was my very first question: “Let’s talk about the makeup process.” It is a slightly different take [in Doomsday]. And of course I jumped at it; I couldn’t wait to do it again. It was also interesting because when I played her the first time, I didn’t have ownership. At the very beginning, I had impostor syndrome. I was young. Like, I was really young, and I was like, “Oh, maybe I was just the girl who happened to be available.” I had to audition, but I really was like, “This is a fluke. They’re about to find out that I have no business being here.” But that was just me in my youth. We’ve all gone through that. I didn’t have that at all this time going back. I went back in with so much ownership of her this time, and that was delightful.

“When I played [Mystique] the first time ... I really was like, ‘This is a fluke. They’re about to find out that I have no business being here.’”

It’s been more than 25 years since that first movie, and that was close to when you made the jump from modeling to acting. So much has changed in the way movies are made, how superhero movies are viewed, and how actors can advocate for themselves on sets. How has it felt to witness that change?

Sets do feel like a safer place than they did 25 years ago. It is a little more of a warmer and cozier, fuzzier place than it used to be. It used to be pretty common to be yelled at, which is what bosses used to do to their employees, which I thought was just par for the course. I mean, it happened to all of us. I think some of us thought that maybe it was character-building to get yelled at by a boss. I had a not-so-nice thing happen actually in the third X-Men movie with our director [Brett Ratner] that I don’t really want to get into, but it’s done now … and I think so is he. And I kind of knew that would happen to him.

So anyway, that was that. But yeah, I wasn’t treated very well by our director on that one. And it was mortifying and humiliating in front of everybody, in front of the entire cast and crew. So I do think things have changed for the better. I think everybody feels safer at work these days than they did. It was sometimes a crapshoot before everybody started paying attention to the treatment of people at work.

It’s been nice to see systems coming into place that are protecting people.

I was 19 when I started modeling, which was really old compared to other models: I had gone to a year of university. But my mom raised me in a way to be very ... If I ever saw trouble coming, I could see it from a mile away and shut it down. If it was in terms of getting hit on, or photographers or people in charge hitting on me or whatever, I was able to shut it down pretty well. So I don’t have any terrible stories along those lines. And that’s coming from fashion and from acting. I was pretty lucky in that regard to steer clear of trouble with that. I’m proud that my mom raised me the way she did, and I was able to work around that.

“Everybody feels safer at work these days than they did. ... Things have changed for the better.”

There’s a kind of symmetry between the Star Trek universe and the X-Men universe — and not only because you were filming Strange New Worlds and Avengers at the same time. They both came about in the ’60s; they both tackle themes of belonging and community. Do you think they’re spiritually linked?

Absolutely. They were both created in response to the Civil Rights movement, a divisive time in our country, representing those of very different backgrounds coming together and working for the greater good. Those who felt like outcasts knew that through collaboration, the world could be a better place … And they both get into these juicy, debatable themes.

Press will ask me, “What do you think it is about Strange New Worlds that makes it so bingeable?” But I don’t think it is bingeable. There are things in each episode that you might want to sit with or maybe sleep on … Not everything is black and white; there’s a lot of gray, and that’s generational. Conversations that I had with my mom, I’m now having with my daughters.

It’s such a rare thing to see that kind of storytelling persist, especially in the age of streaming.

The fact that Paramount allowed us a fifth season and really gave us enough episodes to really wrap up everybody’s storyline and give every character its due diligence … I was so grateful. I think a lot of people, when we found out that we weren’t going past Season 5, of course there were tears — and it’s always a letdown when you’ve been making something incredible with an amazingly talented group of people. But I just had to keep reminding everybody, “Guys, all I heard is ‘We got a Season 5!’”

We also said “five-year mission” right there at the beginning of the show. At the beginning of every episode, we reminded everybody it was going to be a five-year mission. [Laughs.] Don’t be surprised now! And for me, I’ve been a part of Trek now for eight years because I was part of Discovery. It’s been a delightful eight years. It’s been a journey. I’m so grateful for it.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns July 23 to Paramount+. Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters Dec. 18.