Earlier this year, X-Men fans were left to mourn when Logan made its way into theaters. The gritty film marked the final appearances of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in the franchise, but there is one star determined to get the latter back into X-Men. Dan Stevens won’t stop until Stewart reprises Professor Xavier in Legion.
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The actor recently chatted with Entertainment Tonight after of Legion‘s San Diego Comic-Con panel, and Stevens revealed he’s already asked Stewart to play his character’s dead.
“Oh god, Patrick Stewart takes a lot of beating and he did seem interested,” Stevens said when asked about his desire to have Stewart come on Legion.
“He seemed very unaware of the show, but I mentioned that he was my dad, and he seemed pleasantly surprised.”
Showrunner Noah Hawley cut in to confirm where the encounter took place. So, yes – Stevens asked Stewart to play David Haller’s dad in a supermarket.
So far, Legion has not made any overt nods to who David’s father is, but the lead’s lineage will be explored when season two arrives. Hawley said heritage is “definitely” something the show wants to nod at moving forward.
“I think we want to address that,” he said. “It’s normal when you learn you’re adopted to want to know who your real family is. He doesn’t yet know the identity, so I think it will be a process to get there.”
“There’s quite a lot of explaining there, that your dad is Professor X,” Stevens added.
In the past, Hawley has said Legion would rope in the X-Men leader once its second season premiered. The producer had this to say about the mutant’s debut back in March when he chatted with CBR:
“Were we to want to have Professor X on the show, or even Patrick Stewart on the show, James McAvoy or one of those actors, is a conversation both with the actor and with the studio. So, I don’t know, I haven’t really dived into that quandary yet, but certainly I need to start thinking about it.”
Legion‘s first season has a ComicBook.com Composite Score of 81.77 and a ComicBook User Score of 4.09 out of 5.
A haunted man, David escapes from the hospital and seeks shelter with his sister Amy (Katie Aselton). But Amy’s concern for her brother is trumped by her desire to protect the picture-perfect suburban life she’s built for herself. Eventually, Syd guides David to Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), a nurturing but demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods. She and her team of specialists – Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris), Kerry (Amber Midthunder) and Cary (Bill Irwin) – open David’s eyes to an extraordinary new world of possibilities.
LEGION STARS TALK TO COMICBOOK: Dan Stevens Talks Season One | Michael Uppendahl Discusses Season Finale | Jean Smart Owns The Screen As Dr. Bird
Hawley serves as Executive Producer, along with Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Jeph Loeb, Jim Chory and John Cameron. Legion is the latest project from Hawley and Cameron, two of the executive producers of the Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning FX limited series Fargo.
Legion airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
