‘X-Men’ franchise star Patrick Stewart recently announced that he will return as Professor X in the next standalone Wolverine film. The actor also dropped hints that fans may possibly get to see a very different version of his character in movie.
"There is I am told a Wolverine movie in development that would include Charles Xavier, but in a very different Charles Xavier than the one we have seen before," Stewart said during a recent discussion, as reported by ScreenRant. “And I don't quite know what that means, but I am very very excited about it. I love Hugh and I love working with him and James Mangold I believe is set to direct and he is terrific so we shall see."
The 75-year-old actor also paid a visit to the set of the upcoming ‘X-Men: Apocalypse,’ hence the possibility of making a cameo. As a result, fans have been speculating that the professor will be showing up in the movie, even if it is merely a post-credits sequence appearance.
However, Stewart addressed these rumors, saying that the upcoming ‘X-Men’ film will focus on the younger versions of their characters once again.
"They are in the middle of filming. I went up to pay them a visit in Montreal a couple of weeks ago… the next X-Men movie, but that will be inhabited by Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. The X's, not Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart,” he explained.
When asked if ‘Wolverine 3’ could finally be the concluding chapter on the original X-Men cast and the X-Men universe that director Bryan Singer created, Stewart did not offer a certain answer but expressed his longing to keep on playing Professor X in the movies.
"Something tells me from what I read that Hugh said it may be over soon. I don't know what the studio will think about that. We'll see," he said.
Stewart also compared the weight of playing the professor in X-Men with his role as Captain in ‘Star Trek.’
"I am very passionate about the X-Men movies and unlike Star Trek, where I was Captain of the Enterprise, but someone had already been captain of the Enterprise before me, William Shatner,” the distinguished actor further shared. “Um, but well I created Professor X and now James (McAvoy) is taking it over and he is wonderful so flattering to have him as a youthful me.”
Finally, he praised the cast and crew behind the making of these ‘X-Men’ movies as well as Singer’s approach in helming such successful projects.
"Everybody associated with that project, they are fantastic… the actors, the crew and the directors and now that Singer is back directing it because the first two were wonderful movies,” Stewart said. “Yeah, I would go happy into old age doing more X-Men.’"
