Patrick Stewart announced he will join Hugh Jackman in retiring from X-Men after Logan, the most recent installment in the series.
Stewart, who played Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, announced his decision during a Town Hall on SiriusXM radio with Jackman and James Mangold, who directed and co-wrote the film.
Stewart told a touching story about the moment he made the decision:
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.'
But, the departure of Stewart and Jackman does not mean the end of the X-Men films. Producer Simon Kinberg, who many believe will direct the next movie in the series, hinted in The Hollywood Reporter that the series will next cover The Dark Phoenix Saga from Marvel.
