Even More X-Men 3 Casting

So Brett, exactly how big is the cast for X-Men 3 gonna be? Continuing it's trend for expanding at a rate faster than, and almost as capacious and insatiable as The Blob, we've got yet another addition to the vast ensemble that was bumped up only days ago. The latest actor joining the X fold is Shohreh Aghdashloo, who you may remember from such films as The House Of Sand And Fog, and another large ensemble (although low budget this time) effort Twenty Bucks, and she's been cast by Ratner and co. as Dr Kavita Rao. This is the woman who, in recent X-Lore, created the Hope serum, which tried to 'cure' a mutant of their powers. It obviously set up a huge ethical and moral dilemma among the mutant community, and didn't go down well with Hank McCoy, or The Beast as he is perhaps better known (this role has been filled by Kelsey Grammer). Dr Rao was introduced to the X-Men Universe by Joss 'Serenity' Whedon. It's part of a busy year for the Iranian born actress, who will be appearing very soon in The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, has just finished shooting Il Mare with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, and is currently on set as part of Paul Weitz's Hollypolitical satire American Dreamz. Now while we wish Shohreh well, and we're sure she'll be fine in her X3 role, the size of the cast and the plot threads they are going to require is starting to become a concern. How many strands are the writers intending to juggle, and can they do them all justice in 130 odd minutes? Are we going to have a mutant Magnolia (which, admittedly, sounds like an interesting, if not entirely appropriate departure)? Will there be enough time for Hugh Jackman to get his shirt off? These are just some of the questions we hope to have answers to in the coming nine months or so, so keep 'em peeled.