Marvel fans could very well see Patrick Stewart once again return to the role of Professor X for an upcoming project, and he might be bringing along an old friend. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight to promote the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, Stewart touched on a potential return to his Professor X role after coming back for last year's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He didn't offer any specifics but teased that he has more to do in the Marvel world with Ian McKellen, who played Charles Xavier's nemesis Magneto.
"Charles Xavier? Well, I am looking to borrow his wheelchair if we're to do much more Star Trek or standing up is becoming a bit of a problem," Stewart said. "I can't say about what Charles' future might possibly hold."
Noting how McKellen loved seeing the Professor X cameo in Doctor Strange 2, Stewart added, "Actually, it went very well. He did say something like ['Hey, I would've done this!'], yes that's true. But we're not done, Sir Ian and myself. We're... we got plans."
While nothing appears to be set in stone at this point, Stewart may be feeling confident about his chances of coming back as Professor X. He recetnly told ComicBook.com that he was told by Marvel to "stand by" for a potetnail appearance in the upcoming sequel Deadpool 3, which brings back Hugh Jackman to reprise his own X-Men role as Logan/Wolverine. That film is still getting fleshed out creatively, but Stewart's comments certainly make it sound like the odds are more likely than not that we will see his Charles Xavier once again.
Will Professor X Return in Deadpool 3?
Anything can happen in the MCU, so it's certainly very possible we see both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in Deadpool 3, or perhaps another project. We've learned as much from Stewart reprising the role for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as the actor had said in 2017 that he was retiring from playing Professor X, a role he'd been playing since 2000 in the original X-Men movie.
"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," Stewart said of Logan after watching a screening of the movie with Hugh Jackman, via ComicBook.com. "So, I told [Hugh] that same evening, 'I'm done too. It's all over.'"
Jackman had also announced his retirement from playing Wolverine as well, but as we now know, he'll be back in that role for Deadpool 3. We'll find out if Stewart and McKellen join him when the film is released on Nov. 8, 2024.