Bryan Singer is set to make his return to the X-Men universe soon by directing the upcoming prequel X-Men: First Class. The film tells the story of how Professor Xavier first formed his school for mutants, and examines the earlier days of his relationship with Magneto. So you’d think to do that, they might need Professor Xavier himself. There’s only ever been one, and he’s always been played by (in one form or another) Patrick Stewart. But not this time.

TrekMovie caught up with Stewart at an Australian Trek convention where he revealed that he doesn’t expect to be involved in Singer’s franchise prequel. It doesn’t sound like he isn’t interested since he adds that “working with Ian again would be wonderful”, rather it’s that he doesn’t expect to be needed.

That actually makes a certain amount of sense. While Stewart himself never actually seems to age, he’s also incapable of de-agingin. Since this is a prequel Professor Xavier will have to be considerably younger and, let’s face it, the franchise’s past attempts to digitally de-age Stewart have been something less than a rip-roaring success. It makes sense that they’ll have to recast him, even if it’s hard to imagine anyone else ever capturing the character as perfectly as Patrick Stewart did.