It looks like Hugh Jackman isn’t the only one hanging up his mutant hat after Logan. Patrick Stewart has announced that he’s officially retiring from the X-Men franchise, saying, “I’m done.”
Stewart had previously left his future with X-Men up in the air, throwing out tongue-in-cheek hints that he could reprise the role for Deadpool 2 or other future X-Men films. However, during a recent SiriusXM Town Hall with Jackman and Logan director and co-writer James Mangold, Stewart announced that Logan would be his X-Men swan song. I’m sharing his statement in its entirety, because it’s super moving:
“A week ago, Friday night in Berlin, the three of us sat, watching the movie… And I was so moved by it, much more moved than I had been the first time of seeing it. Maybe it was the company of these two guys, but the movie ended and — this is an admission — but at one point [Jackman] reached out, and he took my hand in those last few minutes, and I saw him go [mimes wiping a tear from his eye] like this, and then I realised I had just done the same thing. Then, the movie ended… and we were going to be taken up on stage, but not until the credits were over. So, we had some time to sit there and, as I sat there I realised there will never be a better, a more perfect, a more sensitive, emotional, and beautiful way of saying au revoir to Charles Xavier than this movie. So, I told [Jackman] that same evening, ‘I’m done too. It’s all over.’”
Stewart joins Jackman, who announced a while ago that he was putting away his Wolverine claws for good. Still, that hasn’t stopped Jackman from saying he would have kept going if the X-Men had been added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Way to twist the knife, Hugh.
In any case, based on reviews and reactions (including our own review), this is a near-perfect way for both Stewart and Jackman to end their 17-year part in the X-Men franchise. So long, Stewart, and thanks for being so extraordinary.
[EW]