X-Men star Patrick Stewart has confirmed that he is unlikely to reprise his role as Professor X in the MCU.
Stewart, who has portrayed Charles Xavier in six movies, recently revealed that he had met with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige about the possibility of his beloved X-men character returning to the big screen, though it was ultimately decided that his role would not be reprised.
“I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations,” Stewart revealed in a conversation with Digital Spy. “And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier.”
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The actor explained how his outlook towards the X-Men franchise shifted after Logan was released, as he suggested that the tenth film in the superhero series marked the end of an era for him and Hugh Jackman, who were both highly emotional about letting go of their respective characters.
“Here’s the problem… If we had not made Logan, then yes, I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But Logan changed all that,” Stewart said. “We were moved by the story. We were moved by one another. We were moved by the movie. But we also both made the decision that we were saying goodbye to our characters as well.
“In that sense, it was not just the deaths of those two men in the franchise, but it was also goodbye to our part in them as well.”
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In our review of Logan, we commended Stewart’s return as the wheelchair-bound telepath, saying the revered thespian managed to bring “true depth to the character” in a distinctly new way, making his reprisal “one of the hugely satisfying aspects” of the film.
For more on the future of the X-Men franchise, find out which X-Men projects were paused as a result of the Disney/Fox merger, read about all of the X-Men movies that probably won’t happen now, and discover how a new mutant power could be used to introduce the X-Men in the MCU.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com X-Men's Patrick Stewart Won't Return to Play Professor X in the MCU