For many fans, 20th Century Fox’s Logan represents the end of an era for not just the X-Men franchise, but the comic book movie genre as a whole. Based loosely on the “Old Man Logan” comic book storyline, the film catches up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X in 2029, when both characters are old and slowly dying, and is set to be both actors’ final film in the series. After both Stewart and Jackman made their debut as Professor X and Wolverine 17 years ago in 2000’s X-Men, it’s going to be a reluctant farewell from the fans for two of the genre’s most beloved and impactful performers.

But while the idea of Logan and Professor X’s stories finishing together seems to be the perfect way for them both to go out, some fans have also wondered why other, long-running and important X-Men characters weren’t included in Logan either. Specifically, many have expressed their sadness in not getting to see Stewart’s Professor X interact with Ian McKellen’s Magneto onscreen one last time.

It looks like McKellen is just as saddened by the news also, with the actor talking about his exclusion from Logan during his recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show. He was joined on the show by both Jackman and Stewart, and when McKellen was asked why he wasn’t in Logan too, the actor jokingly replied:

McKellen isn’t the only X-Men cast member to express a desire to have appeared in Logan at this point either, with even James McAvoy saying he wished he could have been involved. However, unlike McKellen, McAvoy is already all but confirmed to be appearing in either X-Men: Supernova or New Mutants, whereas McKellen’s future in the franchise is still frustratingly unknown at this point.

“Do you know, I think when you get to my age, you want to leave aside those tired old franchises. You know, move onto something fresh and new… I sometimes cry myself to sleep about it. I simply don’t know why I’m not in it darlings. Could you not do another one? You could just leave this one [Stewart] out! It’s time you died! And as I recall, you did die in one of the movies. But he’s resurrected!”

The relationship between Stewart’s Charles Xavier and McKellen’s Erik Erik Lehnsherr has always been one of the longest-running themes and highlights of the X-Men franchise. So, similar to Hugh Jackman not being able to do a Deadpool/Wolverine crossover appearance now, the fact that McKellen’s Magneto may very well never be seen in the same X-Men film with either of the two actors is one of the many disappointing effects of Logan’s finality.

That is, of course, if both Jackman and Stewart stay true to their word about Logan being the end for them.

Source: The Graham Norton Show

Next: Logan: Wolverine’s Best Movie Moments (So Far)

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