While there are plenty of very talented actors out there, very few can fill a role quite like Sir Patrick Stewart. Stewart has played a vast number of truly memorable roles over the years, but few of them have been embraced by fan communities quite like his portrayal of Charles Xavier in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films. Sadly, with the sale of 20th Century Studios to Disney in 2019 and the X-Men finally heading to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, it looks like Stewart is officially retired from the character.
Having played Charles Xavier across seven films starting way back in the original X-Men film in 2000, Patrick Stewart’s performance as the iconic founder of the X-Men has been lauded by both fans and critics. He has portrayed the character for nearly two decades, starring in X2: X-Men United (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as well as the aforementioned original X-Men (2000) film. He also had brief appearances in both X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013) before returning to star in X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) where he shared the role of Charles Xavier with James McAvoy (who played a younger version of the character during sequences set in the past).
Stewart’s final appearance as Professor Charles Xavier came in James Mangold‘s Oscar-nominated masterpiece Logan (2017), which was meant to be a send-off for both Stewart’s Charles Xavier and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (who had also been around since the first X-Men film in 2000). It was set in a bleak future where they were one of the only living mutants left on the planet.
In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Sir Patrick Stewart made mention that he had actually spoken to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about the X-Men finally joining the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. He said that the two of them had spoken at length about the X-Men finally coming home to Marvel and being inserted into the MCU proper after two decades of being in their own separate film universe. Feige did offer Stewart to return to the role of Charles Xavier in this new iteration, but he ultimately passed. Stewart cited that he felt Logan was a proper ending for his take on the character:
I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations. And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier. 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.
If Stewart felt that he was finally done with playing the character following their unfortunate demise in Logan, it would absolutely make sense that he would decline to return for further films. Especially if Feige plans on bringing in the X-Men as a major part of the MCU (which he most certainly does). Admittedly, Patrick Stewart isn’t exactly a young man. While he is certainly spry for his age (he’s 80 years old), it is likely that Feige will need someone a bit younger to take on the role of Charles Xavier if there are long term franchise plans that will involve the character for many years yet to come.
While it is definitely sad that we have seen the final appearance of Sir Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, he had one hell of a run during his time as the character and never handed in anything less than a stellar performance. Thankfully most of his performances as Xavier are available for streaming now on Disney+ for anyone who may want to reminisce. Whoever eventually occupies the character’s wheelchair in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is certainly going to have one big Cerebro Helmet to fill!
Are you disappointed to hear Stewart won’t be revisiting the role of Charles Xavier for the MCU? Who would you cast in the role for the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more great X-Men updates!
