Expect a “very different” Professor X in next WOLVERINE.

Patrick Stewart tells Screen Rant that his Professor Xavier role in James Mangold’s next WOLVERINE will apparently be “very different” from his previous portrayals in the original trilogy and DOFP.

“There is I am told a Wolverine movie in development that would include Charles Xavier, but in a very different Charles Xavier than the one we have seen before. And I don’t quite know what that means, but I am very very excited about it. I love Hugh and I love working with him and James Mangold I believe is set to direct and he is terrific so we shall see.”

Filming begins early next year (around February/March 2016) and Stewart says he’s glad to return to the role, as he’s very passionate about the property and the legacy he has created with it.

“Oh, yeah I love being in those movies. I feel… I am very passionate about the X-Men movies and unlike Star Trek, where I was Captain of the Enterprise, but someone had already been captain of the Enterprise before me, William Shatner. Um, but well I created Professor X and now James is taking it over and he is wonderful so flattering to have him as a youthful me. Everybody associated with that project, they are fantastic… the actors, the crew and the directors and now that Singer is back directing it because the first two were wonderful movies. Yeah, I would go happy into old age doing more X-Men, but something tells me from what I read that Hugh said it may be over soon. I don’t know what the studio will think about that. We’ll see. He’s a terrific character, but I am looking forward to… if what I have been told is true… to a different version of Charles. We shall see.”

The film comes to theaters on March 3, 2017.