Heading into last month's D23 event in Anaheim, Christopher Abbott (Wolf Man), Tom Pelphrey (Iron Fist), and Bill Skarsgård (It: Welcome to Derry) were named as frontrunners for the role of Professor X in Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot.
Pelphrey has already confirmed he missed out on the role, and now Abbott has revealed how he feels about his upcoming MCU debut as Charles Xavier.
However, what the actor felt was a muted response to his unveiling at D23 has clearly left him feeling a little rattled. As a result, he's now candidly admitted that X-Men is both "a bit of a dream and a nightmare."
"I think I started walking out pretty enthusiastically," Abbott says in the video below, "and then I kind of felt like a lot of people there didn’t know who I was, so then my energy shifted within the split second. I was a little bit more humble about it."
"I almost did a fist pump when I walked out, and then I felt like the applause was muted," he continued. "So I was like, 'I’m just going to walk out and nod.' It feels almost like a video game, or a dream. Not like a good dream. It’s a bit of both — a bit of a dream and a nightmare."
It's hardly a surprise that Abbott has mixed feelings about taking on this role in X-Men. Sir Patrick Stewart's interpretation of the team's powerful psychic leader remains iconic, while James McAvoy also made his mark as the mutant activist.
Plans for Professor X in the MCU are a mystery to us. We could get the classic wheelchair-bound version, or something more along the lines of the Krakoan Age, where Charles was an enigmatic figure who was able to walk and wore Cerebro almost all the time.
Directed by Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*), the untitled X-Men movie stars Kit Connor (Heartstopper) as Scott Summers, Sadie Sink (Spider-Man: Brand New Day) as Jean Grey, Inde Navarrette (Obsession) as Rogue, Asa Germann (Gen V) as Angel, Maya Boyd (& Juliet) as Storm, and Christopher Abbott (Catch-22) as Professor Charles Xavier.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) also stars as Emma Frost, alongside Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who plays Nathaniel Milbury, an alias of Mister Sinister in the comics. There are also rumours that Marvel Studios will introduce Apocalypse as the next Saga's big bad.
X-Men will be released exclusively in theaters May 5, 2028.