We’ve known for a long while now that Hugh Jackman intends on hanging up the claws and retiring from the role of Wolverine with the release of next week’s Logan, but while Patrick Stewart had previously suggested he wasn’t ready to call time on the X-Men franchise, he’s now revealed that the Wolverine solo sequel will mark his last appearance as Professor Charles Xavier.
“A week ago, Friday night in Berlin, [Hugh Jackman, James Mangold and I] sat watching the movie,” said Stewart (via EW). “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 made his first appearance as Professor X in the first X-Men movie in 2000, and reprised the role for 2003’s X2: X-Men United, 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2013’s The Wolverine, and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Logan here
In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.
Logan is being helmed by The Wolverine director James Mangold and will see Hugh Jackman joined in the cast by Patrick Stewart as Professor X, along with new additions Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen, Eriq La Salle, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Elise Neal. It is set for release on March 1st in the UK and March 3rd in North America.
