James McAvoy Would Rather Play Young Jean-Luc Picard Than Professor X Again

James McAvoy is one of those actors who never seems to be short of work, and true to form he has number of current and upcoming projects including his part in the audio drama based on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels, which are also getting a live action series over on Netflix. However, with so many new worlds to discover, in a recent interview with Collider, the Scottish actor revealed that while there are some well known characters he would like to take a shot at, there is one of his best known roles that he would be “not gutted” if he didn’t play again; X-Men leader Charles Xavier.

“I feel like, yeah,” James McAvoy began, talking about his possible future in the X-Men series. “I feel like I got to explore, not everything I wanted to explore, because there’s always more, surely, but I got to explore a ton of Professor X, and I feel quite satisfied with what I got out of him as a performer. It’s not to say that you don’t ever want to, you never want to come back, and you never want to do it again, and all that kind of stuff. You never say never, as I believe James Bond once said. But I’m not chomping at the bit. I’m not going to be gutted and desperately sad if it never happens again.”

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In the original X-Men movies, Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, was played by Sir Patrick Stewart and was portrayed by McAvoy in his younger years as part of the soft reboot of the series that began with X-Men: First Class. While they played two completely separate versions of the character, the X-Men worlds did collide in Days of Future Past, and although McAvoy might not be too eager to taken on the role again, he did reveal that there is another Patrick Stewart character that he wouldn’t mind having a crack at.

“I mean, I’ve often talked about loving Star Trek, and jokingly, but also kind of seriously been like, if you ever want to do a young Jean-Luc Picard, I’m your man. But I’m probably getting close to being too old to do a young Jean-Luc Picard now. So there’s that,” he said. “But then, now we live in the land of remakes, so there’s always a chance. There’s always a chance that you’re going to get on a show. But the only one that comes to mind is Star Trek, I think. I’ve always loved it. Always.”

He continued on the theme when asked if he felt he had some good experience of playing Stewart’s characters. “Yeah, definitely. I’ve successfully been Patrick, actually, and balded up, although maybe again, the young Jean-Luc wouldn’t be bald. But yeah, no, maybe I’m overqualified for it, though. That’s the other thing. Do you know what I mean? It’s too easy, it’s too obvious a choice. So maybe that turns people off from it.”

Of course, Stewart is currently playing the Star Trek Captain in Picard, which has just been renewed for a new season, so while McAvoy is interested, considering the time travelling potential of the show, he could well get that chance sometime in the future. This news originated at Collider.

Topics: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek, X-Men

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