One of the upcoming Marvel projects I’m most excited about is the return of the X-Men. There’s been a lot of buzz around the casting of the movie, but one of the hardest roles to get right is going to be Charles Xavier. So I hope the X-Men reboot’s Professor X actor heeds this advice from James McAvoy, who played the part for four movies.
Following the original trilogy, McAvoy took up the mantel from Patrick Stewart for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class (2011) and continued through Simon Kinberg's Dark Phoenix (2019). Now, Christopher Abbott has been cast in the role for the upcoming MCU reboot. So I’m not surprised that while McAvoy was celebrating the premiere of Faith at the Toronto International Film Festival that Collider’s Perri Nemiroff asked him what he thought. But I’m loving the refreshing advice he has for the next Professor:
But just enjoy it. Enjoy it, and explore. Find something. Patrick explored what he explored, I explored what I explored, and I hope he gets to do something and bring himself and bring something new to it, as well, because we can't just watch the same character the same way for 15 films, you know? So, I hope he gets the opportunity to bring himself to it.
What I love about this is that McAvoy essentially did the same thing when he took over the part for First Class. He explored a more troubled interpretation to the character who’s optimism wavered under pressure and loss. But the movies showed how this shaped the character into the Stewart version. So I think the actor is right that Abbott needs to find his Professor X. And his words are similar to the advice the X-Men ‘97 series EPs gave to the writers. As long as Abbott remembers the “humanity inside” inside of Charles then I’m hopeful.
This isn’t the first reboot we’ve seen. Technically, First Class launched a refreshing of the X-Men through the younger versions of Charles and Magneto. (Though we all know not to look too closely at the timelines.) So the new X-Men should give the same opportunity for Abbott to find his own version of Professor X and hopefully, give us something that feels both familiar and new. And maybe he'll feel the same way McAvoy did when he first landed the role. The actor takes us back to when he was in Abbott's shoes:
Weirdly, did we feel the pressure when we did First Class? I don't know. There was something really enjoyable about the nature of that reboot. It felt like a different kind of film, and it kind of liberated us, I think, from some of the pressure. And then we were marketing it and the pressure all hit.
No doubt that new cast, especially Abbott, is feeling the pressure. But given the movie isn’t among the upcoming 2026 releases, it'll be a while before we see any of them in the roles. So they have a chance to get to know these characters. However, the biggest challenge remaining is the Magneto of it all, because his character has a very specific backstory as a survivor of the Holocaust. Though we saw both Bucky and Steve in the present day when they’re both from the ‘40s, so it's not impossible. I personally feel that part of who Charles is as a leader is having Magneto in opposition, and it would help Abbott figure out the character.
But even without Magneto, I can only imagine that Abbott will do something similar to bring a new Professor X to life. HIs X-Men castmates are already doubling down on their roles. Recently, we've seen Maya Boyd digging into some comics for her Storm research and Inde Navarrette planning to capture Rogue’s accent by using her own Texas roots. (Though the actor shared hopes to visit Mississippi to do the character justice.) To say they’re taking it seriously is an understatement.
So I'm confident the actor will heed some level of McAvoy's advice. And maybe he’ll also feel “liberated” as he creates a new take on the character.
