After playing Professor Charles Xavier for the past 17 years, Patrick Stewart will leave the X-Men franchise for good…
Patrick Stewart is Professor X no more.
The veteran actor who first portrayed Professor Charles Xavier starting with the original ‘X-Men’ movie back in 2000 has decided that his appearance in ‘Logan’ will be the last time he plays the character.
Stewart made his decision during a screening of the movie ‘Logan’, which opens nationwide on March 3 and has thus far been receiving rave reviews from critics who have seen the movie ahead of the release.
Sitting next to Hugh Jackman, who has said ‘Logan’ will be the final time he plays Wolverine as well, and director James Mangold, Stewart could think of no better way to go out one last time and say goodbye to Professor Xavier forever.
“A week ago, Friday night in Berlin, the three of us sat, watching the movie,” said Stewart. “And I was so moved by it, much more moved than I had been the first time of seeing it. Maybe it was the company of these two guys, but the movie ended and — this is an admission — but at one point [Hugh] reached out, and he took my hand in those last few minutes, and I saw him go [mimes wiping a tear from his eye] like this, and then I realized I had just done the same thing. Then, the movie ended… and we were going to be taken up on stage, but not until the credits were over.
“So, we had some time to sit there and, as I sat there I realized there will never be a better, a more perfect, a more sensitive, emotional, and beautiful way of saying au revoir to Charles Xavier than this movie. So, I told [Hugh] that same evening, ‘I’m done too. It’s all over.’”
Stewart played Professor Xavier several times over the past 17 years starting with ‘X-Men’ and then followed up by ‘X2′ and X-Men: The Last Stand’. Stewart reprised the role again for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ where he played the part alongside James McAvoy, who took up the role as a younger version of the character in ‘X-Men: First Class’ in 2011.
‘Logan’ has been hailed as a real achievement in filmmaking with many comparing it to Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ as one of the definitive comic book movies ever made.
It seems Stewart certainly loved it enough to call it his swan song after nearly two decades on screen as the founder of the X-Men.
H/T: EW
