Patrick Stewart May Play Charles Xavier In Legion, Says Show’s Creator

Legion, FX’s twist on the tale of Charles Xavier’s (Professor X) son, David Charles Haller, returned for its second season last week in rare form. David must battle The Shadow King for more than just control of his mind (as in Season 1) but now for the rest of humanity. With the battle between the two greatest telepaths on the brink of erupting, some questions remain to be answered: Where is Charles Xavier, and will he make an appearance in this season? If he does, how will it affect David? And, who will take on the role of such an influential mutant?

Creator and mastermind behind Legion, Noah Hawley, shed some light on the subject. He maintained that there were talks about having Patrick Stewart return to reprise his role as Professor X, even after stating he’d be done with the character after Logan. But, hey, miracles can happen. Right?

Hawley spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on the possibility of Patrick Stewart’s return to the character:

“It’s not a rights issue or a legal issue, it’s more about corporate synergy. There are a lot of people with opinions and strategies for franchise development. But I think we’ll be victorious in the end because our hearts are pure.”

For this to happen, there needs to be an agreement of sorts. And I don’t think the decision rests entirely in the hands of those at Fox.

Disney’s huge acquisition of 21st Century Fox meant they would be able to finally use characters controlled by Fox, like the X-Men or Doctor Doom, in their Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or in television. Wherever the pieces fit, really. Since Legion began airing before this acquisition, the problem with having Patrick Stewart star as Charles Xavier may depend on Marvel’s plans with these characters coming from Fox in their cinematic universe or in their television shows. Especially since Stewart has worked with 21st Century Fox a lot over the years as Charles Xavier, him returning might go against Disney and Marvel’s wishes for the character.

“In the mythology, the Shadow King was kicked out of his body by Charles Xavier…,” Hawley stated in his interview with THR. Since the second season of Legion will focus on the race to The Shadow King’s body in particular, maybe we’ll be given a flashback of the showdown between David’s father and current enemy.

Although there are numerous possibilities, Hawley is still unsure how Xavier will show up.”We move around a lot in time with the show,” he said. “I haven’t really settled on which version [of Xavier] we’ll see.”

If you haven’t already, watch the season premiere of Legion… for your own sake. Where else can you see such sweet choreography?