Our Patrick Stewart Deadpool 3 Exclusive Confirmed

Patrick Stewart confirms our scoop from September that he's been in talks to reprise his role as Professor X in the upcoming Deadpool 3.

By Michileen Martin | Updated

Giancarlo Esposito Professor X

Back in September we brought you the exclusive scoop that Patrick Stewart was in talks to reprise the role of Professor X in Deadpool 3. Now, while promoting the upcoming third season of Star Trek: Picard, Stewart confirms our report, saying that in terms of appearing in Deadpool 3 he’s “been told to stand by.” You can watch the video clip yourself below.

Patrick Stewart is side-by-side with Star Trek: Picard co-star Gates McFadden when the subject of Deadpool 3 comes up. The interviewer asks him a number of things, including what he thinks about the threequel possibly affecting “the impact of Logan,” but Stewart comments only on his possible appearance:

“I’ve been told to stand by. That’s all. I know nothing more than that, I promise.”

-Patrick Stewart on the possibility of him appearing in Deadpool 3

Of course, as no doubt Patrick Stewart likely knows as well as anyone else, and better than most, his “I promise” is likely to fall on a lot of deaf ears, and not without good reason. We all have no choice now but to live in a world that exists after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home — a movie whose promotion saw a surprisingly high percentage of the cast swearing they had nothing to do with the thing. Believing any actor’s word on what they do or don’t know about a potential upcoming Marvel movie — particularly one in which they’d potentially reprise a beloved role — feels far too naive.

Interestingly, the Picard star unintentionally potentially reveals at least a little bit more about his possible future appearance than he likely intended. Even if we trust that him being told to “stand by” is really all he knows, then it would seem to necessarily follow that Patrick Stewart has agreed to appear in Deadpool 3, wouldn’t it? After all, why would you be “told to stand by” to do something if you hadn’t already agreed to do it?

We already know Stewart has proven to be friendly to the idea of playing Professor X. The Star Trek alum played a version of the character — not quite the same as the one he played in Fox’s X-Men films — in last year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. A member of the Illuminati, the sequel’s version of Professor X used a levitating chair similar to the one employed by the character in X-Men: The Animated Series and, like most of the Illuminati, is murdered by the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

patrick stewart deadpool 3
Patrick Stewart in Logan (2017)

If Patrick Stewart does ultimately play Professor X in Deadpool 3, from what Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman both explained on Instagram shortly after their reveal that Jackman would once again play Wolverine, there’s no reason to assume that appearance would impact the continuity of 2017’s Logan. James Mangold’s film was set in the year 2029, while Deadpool 3 will take place before those events. Stewart’s character is murdered in the film by a clone of Wolverine, after suffering for years from a degenerative brain disease.