Sir Patrick Stewart may not be returning as Professor X in X-Men: Apocalypse, but there’s another beloved sci-fi franchise he’d be keen to return to.

And that franchise is, of course, Star Trek.

Before he was known as Charles Xavier, Stewart played Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) before reprising the role in four movies (Star Trek: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis). His last appearance in a Starfleet uniform was in 2002's Nemesis, the last of the "traditional" Trek flicks, until Paramount revived the franchise and director J.J. Abrams made it all flashy explosions and lens flares in 2009's action-packed Star Trek.

Even though it’s been 13 years, would Patrick Stewart play the role again? Yep, but there's a condition.

Answering a fan question on Facebook during a Q&A hosted by Entertainment Weekly earlier today, here’s what the British actor (who recently revealed that he almost played Picard with a French accent) said:

“Absolutely... if it were a really good script. But, the poor soul is getting old and long in the tooth. He would probably need some help mounting his horse unlike the youthful captain of 30 years ago.”

Following that, another fan asked who he would see in the role of a young Picard:

“I would have to say it must be the actor, my son, Daniel Stewart.”

Patrick Stewart’s son Daniel appeared in Star Trek: TNG’s season-five episode “The Inner Light,” which is considered to be one of the very best episodes (it often makes top ten, five, etc., etc. lists of best Next Gen eps) the show offered fans over its illustrious seven seasons.

Have a look at the whole convo by clicking on the link below:

What do you think? Would you love to see Sir Patrick Stewart reprising the role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard? Should the current Star Trek powers-that-be make it so?

(via Comic Book)