Professor Xavier is one of the most popular X-Men characters. This is due, in part, to Patrick Stewart, who played the mutant headmaster in the original X-Men movies. Indeed, the decision to have Stewart play the telepathic teacher is widely regarded as one of the best comic book casting decisions of all time.
Still, times change, and so must the X-Men. Especially now, Marvel Studios has regained the rights to the merry mutants, and they’re set to join the MCU. As such, a big discussion between fans is ‘who will play the MCU movies‘ version of the character?’ One name that keeps coming up is Giancarlo Esposito, who’s probably best known for playing the villainous Gus Fring in the TV series Breaking Bad.
Esposito’s clearly aware of the rumours because he recently admitted that he has had a meeting with Marvel, and although there are a few MCU characters in the mix, he apparently really wants to play Professor Xavier.
“I have not worked for Marvel yet,” Esposito explained to the TJH Superhero Car Show & Comic Con, “I’ve been in a room with them and talked to them.”
“There’s talk of Magneto… there’s been talk of Doctor Doom, and then there is Professor X,” he continued. “I’m going to go for something that is a little bit different. I’m going to go and put it out in the universe that it is Professor X.” It’s worth saying that Marvel hasn’t announced anything about new X-Men movies yet, so we’re probably a long way off Esposito (or whoever ends up in Xavier’s chair) taking over the role.
That said, we are getting a new animated series featuring the mutants. It’s called X-Men ’97, and it’s a continuation of the old ’90s series. Stewart also recently reprised the role of Xavier in Doctor Strange 2, but we get the feeling we won’t be seeing him again.
Still, if you want to see more of Esposito, then check out our guide to The Mandalorian season 3 to learn more about his Star Wars series.