James McAvoy is “always open” to reprising the role of Professor X, which he has played in 20th Century Studios’ rebooted X-Men franchise since 2011. The actor spoke to Variety at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con and expressed his interest in returning to the franchise based on the quality of the project.
“I’ve always said if there’s a good role, if there’s a good opportunity to tell a good story, I’m always interested in it, whether it’s something I’ve done before or something completely new,” McAvoy said.
“If there’s good material, I’m always ready to respond. I’m always ready. Always ready! Actors ready! It has to be good, and they have to do it, so it’s all fiction.” In addition to starring in the X-Men films, which include X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Dark Phoenix, McAvoy also played Charles Xavier aka Professor X in Deadpool 2.
During the interview, the actor was asked if he had seen the blockbuster Marvel movie Deadpool and Wolverine, which featured several star-studded cameos. Although he hadn’t seen the film, he did admit that his name was mentioned in the credits.
“I know, I know! I knew I was going to be in the credits. I demanded it. (laughs) No,” he said. However, when asked if he had plans to join the film for a cameo, he immediately denied it. “No, no, no, no. Not that. I don’t think so. If there was a world, they would have thrown that idea out the window before they called me, so no,” he joked.
McAvoy was accompanied by director James Watkins and co-star Mackenzie Davis from his latest horror film Speak No Evil. The story revolves around an American couple and their daughter whose casual stay at a British family’s country home turns into a psychological nightmare.
The actor spoke about the film and praised the director for capturing enjoyable scenes while maintaining the “tension” in the first half of the slow-paced film. He said, “It’s just tension, tension, tension, tension, and so in the last 20 minutes when it all starts, it all just explodes.”
Speak No Evil will hit theaters on September 13, 2024.
