When we heard the news that the follow-up to Matthew Vaughn‘s hit X-Men: First Class would be the time-traveling plot Days of Future Past, one could guess that Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart may reprise their roles. Then, when we heard that their X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer would be returning to the director’s chair, the deal was all but sealed. And now it looks like it has been, thanks to an update from Singer himself on Twitter. Check out his tweets below.

I’d like to officially welcome back James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, & Nicholas Hoult to #XMEN for #DaysOfFuturePast

— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) November 27, 2012

Thrilled to announce @ianmckellen118 & @sirpatstew are joining the cast of #XMEN #DaysOfFuturePast #magneto #professorX More to come…

— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) November 27, 2012

There you have it, McKellen is back as Magneto (with Michael Fassbender returning as his younger counterpart) and Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X (and James McAvoy is back as his younger self). Jennifer Lawrence, who is staying busy on the franchise side with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be coming back as Mystique, while Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer star Nicholas Hoult is returning as Beast. Check out a synopsis below for the film gearing up for a spring shoot.

The storyline alternates between present day, in which the X-Men fight Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and a future timeline caused by the X-Men’s failure to prevent the Brotherhood from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly. In this future universe, Sentinels rule the United States, and mutants live in internment camps. The present-day X-Men are forewarned of the possible future by a future version of their teammate Kitty Pryde, whose mind traveled back in time and possessed her younger self to warn the X-Men.

X-Men: Days of Future Past arrives on July 18th, 2014.

Are you looking forward to the sequel moreso now that Stewart and McKellen are on board?