He may now be the actor most commonly associated with Charles Xavier/Professor X, but Patrick Stewart didn’t know anything about Marvel’s mutants when he originally was in talks to sign onto the first X-Men movie.
In his recently published Making It So: A Memoir novel, via SlashFilm, Stewart admitted he knew next to nothing about Professor Xavier when he first learned an X-Men movie was being made. When producer Lauren Donner handed him a portrait of Professor X that was drawn to look like Stewart, the actor simply said, “Who on earth is that, Lauren?”
Stewart continued, “This conversation made about as much sense to me as the one I’d had with Steve Dontanville all those years ago in which he asked me why Gene Roddenberry wanted to meet me. Charles Xavier? The X-Men? I hadn’t a bloody clue what was going on.”
Patrick Stewart initially didn’t want to star in X-Men
After Donner explained the character and the concept of Marvel’s X-Men, Stewart initially didn’t want to star in the movie.
“My thoughts at the time? No,” he wrote. “No more fantasy. No more sci-fi. No more telepaths. No more actors zipped into formfitting costumes. I’m done with all that. Thanks for thinking of me, but — no, absolutely not.”
It was after having lunch with Bryan Singer, who directed a total of four X-Men movies before he was later accused of sexual assault, when Stewart was convinced to play the role. He portrayed Charles Xavier not only in 2000’s X-Men but also in a number of other films in the franchise, including 2003’s X2, 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, and 2017’s Logan, as well as uncredited cameos in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 2013’s The Wolverine.
Most recently, Stewart reprised the role for 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He’s also rumored to return in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, though Marvel Studios has not confirmed this at this time.
