Not all that long ago, Patrick Stewart made it fairly clear that he and Ian McKellen would not be appearing in "X-Men: Apocalypse." The fact that they weren't going to be in that film jibed with Bryan Singer's plans for the sequel which involves a younger cast of X-Men. However, the duo's retirement from the franchise seems to have been rather premature.
Speaking with ComingSoon.net, Stewart confirmed that he won't be appearing as Professor X in "Apocalypse"... but both he and McKellen's infamous mutant, Magneto, will be back in two separate films: "Magneto, Ian McKellen, is certainly going to be in ["X-Men: Apocalypse"]. And what I'm very excited about is that we have been talking about a Wolverine movie, which would team Hugh Jackman and myself together. Wolverine and Professor Xavier. That would be a very different sort of 'X-Men' from the four movies that I've already done."
Keeping in mind Singer's objectives for "Apocalypse," McKellen will probably only show up in a cameo as The Master of Magnetism. Plus, the timeline expurgations caused in "Days of Future Past" would offer Magneto the possibility to appear in any future sequels.
For the second "Wolverine" sequel, the presence of Professor X would mark a shift in the standalone "Wolverine" films. So far "Weapon X" has been in two solo flicks without any other X-Men making an appearance. Considering Xavier has been a rather significant figure in Logan's life, uniting the pair for a buddy/road picture would be rather intriguing.
"X-Men: Apocalypse" opens on May 27, 2016, followed by "The Wolverine 3" on March 3, 2017.
