Patrick Stewart won't be returning to his iconic X-Men role when the characters join the MCU – and he has a very good reason why.

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The Star Trek actor played Professor X, leader of Marvel's heroic mutants, for almost twenty years until 2017's acclaimed send-off Logan.

Hugh Jackman's final Wolverine film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, was simply too emotional an experience for him to consider returning.

Stewart told Digital Spy: "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."

He went on to recount a heartfelt moment he shared with star Hugh Jackman when they watched the film together.

"The first time that Hugh and I saw the film in public was at the Berlin Film Festival, which is where the movie premiered," he said. "Shortly after Xavier's death scene, I found myself getting very emotional but I had to keep a hold of myself because we were sitting in the middle of this cinema.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan

"And then I saw Hugh's hand come up to his eye and wipe away a tear. I thought, 'Dammit, the bugger's crying. Oh, let it out Patrick.' Hugh took my hand, and we held hands with the last seven or eight minutes of the film because there was so many things we were upset about."

He added: "We were moved by the story. We were moved by one another. We were moved by the movie. But we also both made the decision that we were saying goodbye to our characters as well. In that sense, it was not just the deaths of those two men in the franchise, but it was also goodbye to our part in them as well."

But while Stewart's days as Professor X are behind him, he is returning to another of his beloved sci-fi characters.

Star Trek: Picard will see him back in the role he first played in The Next Generation, landing on Amazon Prime Video in the UK on Friday 24th January 2020.

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Authors

David Craig
David CraigSenior Drama Writer

David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.

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