It’s not exactly a surprise given what we know so far about Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, but Patrick Stewart confirmed today that neither he nor Ian McKellen would be reprising their respective roles as Charles Xavier or Erik Lehnsherr in the forthcoming mutant ensemble.
“I was learning quite a lot more about it last night,” Stewart tells Larry King (via Yahoo! Movies), hinting that he’s still maintaining a close connection to the franchise. “It is going to be looking very much at the earlier lives of all our characters. And so I don’t think we’ll be making an appearance.”
Confirmed to star James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac and Nicholas Hoult (with more names expected to be confirmed shortly), X-Men: Apocalypse is scripted by Simon Kinberg, Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris. Said to be the conclusion of a trilogy started with X-Men: First Class and continued with X-Men: Days of Future Past, cameras will start rolling on the next adventure in Montreal beginning April, 2015 for a May 27, 2016 release.
It was also recently reported that the new film is looking to cast younger versions of Jean Grey (Phoenix), Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Ororo Monroe (Storm). You can take a look at some of the names rumored to be in contention by clicking here.
Stewart, meanwhile, is in theaters now, starring opposite Matthew Lillard and Carla Gugino in writer/director Stephen Belber’s Match. You can check out his comments to King for yourself in the player below:
