James McAvoy has made no secret of his hopes of wanting to one day play Star Trek’s Jean-Luc Picard – and now he’s revealed that it almost happened.
The Scottish actor appeared on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, and in a discussion on his career to date, he revealed there were "a few things" he was lined up to star in, only for them to fall through due to availability.
As the conversation moved to his love of sci-fi stories, particularly Star Wars and Star Trek, McAvoy admitted he was still fighting to play a young Jean-Luc Picard.
He then revealed that he had even pitched a stand-alone series called "Mutiny on the Stargazer" to the Star Trek team about Picard, most iconically played by Sir Patrick Stewart.
"We nearly did it," he said, confirming it was a Picard story.
"I’ve got a whole story about an early Picard," he added. "I mean, all I really want to do in my career is play young versions of Patrick [Stewart]. I’ve got this whole story about a young Picard that I love."
Elaborating further, he explained the story "followed the captain when he took over as captain of the Stargazer, and what actually happened, and the secret that he’s been holding his entire career."
"I just pitched it to them, talking to them, and they were well into it, but we had logistical issues that meant we couldn’t do it," he said. "But I love that story, that I just go to bed and think about it at night."
While McAvoy is yet to play Picard, the Scottish actor has previously taken over another role from Stewart, playing Professor X / Charles Xavier in the X-Men prequel movies.
But during Covid lockdown in 2020, McAvoy parodied Star Trek in a homemade movie titled Star Force: Sci-Fisolation, teaming up with Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe.
He later spoke about it with US talk show host Jimmy Fallon, saying was desperate to do it.
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"Jimmy, that is the only world that exists, in which I play a young Jean-Luc Picard," he told the Tonight Show via Zoom link.
"Any other world is just an alternate reality in a bad episode of Star Trek. It’s happening!
"If they don’t hire me I’m going to make it on my phone!" he joked. "I’m calling that right now."
The Star Trek franchise is available to watch on Paramount+.
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