With the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe blown wide open by the Disney/Fox merger, Sir Patrick Stewart has discussed the chances of playing Charles Xavier on the big screen again.

Stewart, whose new show Star Trek: Picard kicks off later this month, portrayed the iconic Professor X across six X-Men movies in total – ending with 2017's critical smash Logan.

But in recent conversation with Digital Spy and other press, it sounds like the actor is happy enough to step away from the role for good.

20th Century Fox

Related: Picard star Patrick Stewart thinks Star Trek fans will be "shocked" by series

"I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations," he explained. "And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier."

However, Stewart then revealed some very disappointing news: "Here's the problem... If we had not made Logan, then yes, I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But Logan changed all that.

"Here's a tiny anecdote. The first time that Hugh [Jackman] and I saw the film in public was at the Berlin Film Festival, which is where the movie premiered. Shortly after Xavier's death scene, I found myself getting very emotional but I had to keep a hold of myself because we were sitting in the middle of this cinema.

"And then I saw Hugh's hand come up to his eye and wipe away a tear. I thought, 'Dammit, the bugger's crying. Oh, let it out Patrick.'"

20th Century Fox

Stewart struggled to hold it together and eventually "sat there snivelling" alongside his co-star in a packed-out screening.

"Hugh took my hand, and we held hands with the last seven or eight minutes of the film because there was so many things we were upset about," he added.

"We were moved by the story. We were moved by one another. We were moved by the movie. But we also both made the decision that we were saying goodbye to our characters as well.

"In that sense, it was not just the deaths of those two men in the franchise, but it was also goodbye to our part in them as well."

There you have it folks, the events of Logan really did spell the end of an era.

20th Century Fox

On his experience filming the acclaimed 2017 film, Stewart recalled: "James Mangold – who was our extraordinarily brilliant director and one of the significant writers on that screenplay – created for Hugh Jackman and myself a world utterly unlike anything that had been in X-Men before.

"I mean, there was Hugh driving a nasty, shitty old limo around El Paso in order to make some money to keep Charles Xavier in medication. It was a fantastic experience making that film because I was with Hugh every moment of every day."

Star Trek: Picard has a premiere date of January 23, 2020. It will air on CBS All Access in the US and Amazon Prime internationally, including the UK.

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