X-Men Veteran Eyes One of the Most Iconic Roles in Sci-Fi History

The Star Trek franchise has a very long history. It started in the 1960s with Star Trek: The Original Series, was revived with a series of movies that ran for decades, and returned to TV in the 1980s with Star Trek: The Next Generation. The last decade has been one of the busiest periods in Star Trek history, with TV shows like Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy all blasting off.

At the moment, only Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy are still running, and both of those shows will end after their upcoming seasons. But one big-name actor has a new idea. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, James McAvoy told host Josh Horowitz about how he once pitched an idea for a Star Trek limited series that almost got made.

The show was called Mutiny On the Stargazer, and it would have explored the early career of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, famously played by Patrick Stewart for seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, not to mention four movies and three seasons of Star Trek: Picard. “That was a whole idea I had I pitched to the Star Trek people as well, and we nearly did it,” McAvoy said. “I’ve got a whole story about an early Picard.”

I had this whole story of a young Picard that I love. I pitched, it was like a one-off standalone season…when he took over as captain of the Stargazer and what actually happened, and the secret he’s been holding his entire career. I just pitched it to them, talking to them, and they were into it, but we had logistical issues that meant we couldn’t do it. But I love that story that I just go to bed and think about it at night.

James McAvoy as Professor X in X-Men: Apocalypse

It sounds like this limited series would have drawn on the Star Trek: Stargazer book series by author Michael Jan Friedman, published between 2002 and 2004.

If James McAvoy ever did play a younger version of Jean-Luc Picard, it would be a case of history repeating. McAvoy played a younger version of Professor Charles Xavier in a series of X-Men movies between 2011 and 2019, after Patrick Stewart played the older version of the character starting in X-Men (2000). “All I really want to do in my career is play young versions of Patrick [Stewart],” McAvoy joked.

It’s likely that McAvoy pitched this idea years ago. If Paramount were to make Mutiny On the Stargazer now, McAvoy would be 47 years old, the same age that Patrick Stewart was during the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. So the idea of him playing a younger version of Jean-Luc Picard might be difficult to sell.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will return for its second and final season in March 2027. In the meantime, Patrick Stewart will return as the older version of Professor X in Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026.