According to Deadline, James McAvoy revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he pitched a Star Trek series called Mutiny On the Stargazer about a young Jean-Luc Picard and that "we nearly did it."
His stated career goal, in his own words: "All I really want to do in my career is play young versions of Patrick Stewart." That is not a quote, that is a resume. He won the Xavier succession, then spent fifteen years campaigning for the Picard succession, all off the same original actor. Two franchises, one British man, and The Replacement keeps asking for a discount.
The pitch was a "one-off standalone season" about Picard taking command of the Stargazer and "the secret he's been holding his entire career." Per TrekMovie, he has been volunteering for this part since 2018, and in 2021 he worried he was "close to being too old" to play a man from 1987. Fan club minutes that should have stayed in the fan club, including the part where he is anxious about his own age against a character's timeline.
Meanwhile the original is still working. Stewart is booked, Avengers: Doomsday in December, and the young version of a role whose old version never retired is a weird thing to pitch. It died on "logistical issues." McAvoy still thinks about it at night. He made a homemade pandemic fan film. That is not a career arc, it is a subscription.
YOUR TURN: Is "young versions of Patrick Stewart" a legitimate career plan, or is it fan fiction with a slide deck?
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