Patrick Stewart Announces Retirement From X-Men Series -- "I'm Done"

Earlier this month, actor Patrick Stewart teased that he might not join Hugh Jackman in retiring from the X-Men series after Logan, saying he might play Professor X again. Now, he confirmed that won't be the case. He is retiring from the X-Men series, the actor has officially confirmed.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Stewart confirmed the news during an appearance on SiriusXM alongside Logan director James Mangold and co-star Jackman. Jackman also said again that he will end his run as Wolverine Logan.

"A week ago, Friday night in Berlin, the three of us sat, watching the movie," Stewart said. "And I was so moved by it, much more moved than I had been the first time of seeing it. Maybe it was the company of these two guys, but the movie ended and--this is an admission--but at one point [Hugh] reached out, and he took my hand in those last few minutes, and I saw him go [mimes wiping a tear from his eye] like this, and then I realized I had just done the same thing.

"Then, the movie ended… and we were going to be taken up on stage, but not until the credits were over. So, we had some time to sit there and, as I sat there I realized there will never be a better, a more perfect, a more sensitive, emotional, and beautiful way of saying au revoir to Charles Xavier than this movie. So, I told [Hugh] that same evening, 'I'm done too. It's all over.'"

Logan opens on March 3.

GameSpot's Logan review praised it for being brutal and grim, featuring outstanding performances by Jackman and Stewart.

"Logan continually subverts your expectations, but in its impactful ending, it still somehow feels like the only way the movie--and Wolverine's long journey--could end," GameSpot critic Randolph Ramsay said. "This is a film that elevates its genre, succeeding precisely because it's different, and because it strives to be the Wolverine movie fans have always wanted to see. Logan is a must-watch, and is not only a wonderful superhero movie, but a wonderful movie in its own right."

For more on the critical reaction to Logan, check out this roundup of reviews.

In other news, it was recently revealed that studio bosses were concerned that the film's more adult approach might turn fans off. "There was real consternation about the intensity of the tone of the film," Fox executive Stacey Snider said. "It's more of an elegy about life and death. It's not a wise-cracking, cigar-chomping mutton-sporting Wolverine, and the debate internally became, 'Isn't that freakin' boring?'"

Logan also stars Dafne Keen, Stephen Merchant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, and Richard E. Grant. It hits theaters on March 3, 2017.