Giancarlo Esposito still wants to play Professor X in a future Marvel X-Men movie, but he’s not too interested in playing a version of the X-Men character who uses a wheelchair.
It’s a role the Breaking Bad actor expressed interest in back in 2022, saying at the time that he wanted to “put it out in the universe that [I’d like to play] Professor X.” Although Esposito has spoken with Marvel before, he’s never been officially offered the part.
Esposito updated fans on his superhero hopes during an interview with the Fade to Black podcast. He explains that he doesn’t think about playing the character often, but when he does, he imagines his take being slightly different from what some fans may be used to. He clarifies that he’d prefer to play a version of Charles Xavier that doesn’t use a wheelchair because sitting for days on end doesn’t appeal to him.
"...immediately I go, 'It would be great to play Professor X in some other incarnation than just the wheelchair,' right? Because the physical idea of being in a wheelchair every single day does not appeal to me. I just don't feel that old and I don't like to sit that much. But certainly we could figure something out. Maybe. Professor X wasn't always in the wheelchair, but that is part of his character development. I think about it a little bit, but I don’t give it all of my thought because it would have to come to me.”
Most comic book fans are probably more familiar with incarnations of Professor X where the character is paraplegic. That’s been the case for decades of comics and even movies, with the learned mutant mentor most recently appearing in a hover chair in 2022’s Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While some recent comic runs and other stories have shown versions of the character without his disability, he remains a prominent example of representation in Marvel.
Marvel hasn't revealed too much official news about a fresh take on the X-Men outside of animated series X-Men '97, which premieres on Disney+ on March 20. It was reported last September, however, that Marvel started early development on a new X-Men movie almost right after the end of the writers' strike.
Whether or not Esposito is able to "figure something out" with the company remains to be seen, and we likely won't learn who will play the next version of the character for quite some time.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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