Giancarlo Esposito Still Wants to Play Professor X Without a wheelchair

Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito reveals what he wants for the character if he were to possibly get the role as the MCU's Professor X.

Esposito has emerged as fans' favorite choice to play Professor X in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's upcoming reboot of the X-Men franchise. In an interview with Empire's Amon Warmann, Esposito responded to a suggestion that legendary actor Denzel Washington could possibly join him in a future X-Men film, portraying Professor X's rival Magneto. Esposito responded enthusiastically, stating that this would be great. The actor also discussed his attachment to the Professor X role and addressed the possible difficulty of playing the wheelchair-clad superhero, stating he hoped to portray a different incarnation of Charles Xavier.

"I've given it a cursory glance in my brain and immediately thought, I go, 'It would be great to play Professor X, in some other incarnation than just a wheelchair,' because the physical idea of being in a wheelchair every single day, does not appeal to me," Esposito said. "I just don't feel that old and I don't like to sit that much but certainly we could figure out something, maybe. Professor X wasn't always in the wheelchair, but that is part of his character development. So I think about it a little bit, but I don't give it all of my thought because it would have to come to me."

Charles Xavier/Professor X was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby in The X-Men #1 (September 1963). The character is depicted as the founder and leader of the X-Men. Xavier's pacifist ideology and actions have often been contrasted with those of Magneto, a mutant leader initially characterized as a supervillain and later as a complex antihero, with whom Xavier has a complicated relationship. Although popularly compared to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideologies, writer Chris Claremont, who originated Magneto's backstory as a Holocaust survivor, modeled the politics of Xavier on David Ben Gurion and Magneto on Menachem Begin.

What Will Be Next for Magneto and Professor X?

Ian McKellen has portrayed Magneto in various films since X-Men in 2000, while Michael Fassbender has portrayed a younger version of the character in the prequel films since X-Men: First Class in 2011. Both actors portrayed their respective incarnations in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Patrick Stewart portrayed Professor X in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series and in various video games, while James McAvoy portrayed a younger version of the character in X-Men: First Class. Both actors reprised the role in the film X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Stewart returned to the role in the film Logan (2017), while McAvoy further appeared as his younger iteration of the character in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). Stewart again returned to the role, portraying an alternate version of the character in the 2022 MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.