After reprising his role as Charles Xavier/Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Patrick Stewart says he isn't ruling out another appearance as the iconic X-Men character at some point in the future.
Stewart, who is also well-known for portraying Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and a number of Star Trek feature films, has gone on record stating that he plans to retire the character for good following the upcoming third season of Star Trek: Picard. With that in mind, Stewart was asked during a recent interview with Variety if he would still be open to playing Professor X post-Multiverse of Madness.
"Charles Xavier? Yeah. There may be. You know, the whole X-Men comic series is so huge, so vast, there might be an opportunity in which he comes back," Stewart said. "We'll see."
When the first full-length trailer for Multiverse of Madness dropped back in February, it featured a cameo by a mysterious, seated bald man who spoke with what was almost unmistakeably Stewart's voice. Marvel fans were ecstatic, as this all but confirmed that Stewart would be reprising his role as Professor X from 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series.
Stewart initially played coy on the matter, though eventually confirmed that he was indeed in the Marvel Studios film. Subsequent promotional material for Multiverse of Madness suggested that the film's version of Professor X would hew closer to X-Men: The Animated Series, with Stewart's mutant character using a yellow hoverchair like the one from the fan-favorite cartoon.
It was previously thought that Stewart had made his final bow as Professor X in the 2017 X-Men spinoff film Logan. In fact, Logan was such a powerful send-off for Stewart's version of the telepath that he was initially hesitant to reprise the role in Multiverse of Madness. "Well, it was a day-and-a-half's work. I was in a very different environment from the one that I had ever been in, in any of the X-Men movies," Stewart said during the aforementioned Variety interview.
"And just like Picard, I was grateful for it, because I could think refreshingly about who he was and how he related to others," he continued. "Just like Star Trek: Picard, I was a little unsure at first if it was a wise thing to do. Given that Logan had been such a powerful movie and we watched him die in Hugh Jackman's arms. So having seen [Multiverse of Madness] on Monday night, I'm very happy and very proud that I've been part of that."
Stewart first played Professor X in the 2000 film X-Men, subsequently reprising the role in 2003's X2, 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2013's The Wolverine, 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and, finally, 2017's Logan. James McAvoy portrayed a younger version of Stewart's Charles Xavier in 2011's X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, 2018's Deadpool 2 and 2019's Dark Phoenix.
See for yourself what Professor X gets up to in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in theaters now.
Source: Variety