James McAvoy says he once pitched Star Trek a limited series in which he’d play a young Jean-Luc Picard, and that the franchise’s overseers were interested before the idea stalled. According to IGN, the X-Men and Split actor shared the story on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. ScreenRant reports the host was Josh Horowitz.
McAvoy called the pitch “Mutiny on the Stargazer”, and said, “Nearly did it.” Asked to explain, he said he had a whole story about an early Picard, and that all he really wants to do in his career is play young versions of Patrick Stewart. That line makes sense given his run as the younger Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, a role Stewart played in the original films.
The concept, as McAvoy describes it, is a standalone season. It would follow Picard taking command of the Stargazer, his first ship as captain, and reveal what happened and “the secret he’s been holding his entire career”. Picard’s first command came aboard the Constellation-class USS Stargazer, according to Redshirts Always Die, after the previous captain was killed. That leaves a gap in the canon for a story like McAvoy’s to fill.
McAvoy told Horowitz the Star Trek people were “well into it”, but that logistical issues stopped it from going ahead. He didn’t say what those issues were, when he pitched, or who was in the room. ScreenRant notes it’s unclear when the meeting took place.
McAvoy has been angling for the role for years. In 2019 he joked to MTV News about taking Picard “where no Star Trek fan has gone before”, ahead of the original Star Trek: Picard series. In 2021 he told Collider he was getting close to being too old for a young Picard. Stewart was 47 when The Next Generation began filming, and McAvoy was 42 at the time.
Star Trek: Picard ran from 2020 to 2023, and IGN notes that most of what fans know about the captain comes from later in his career, across The Next Generation and the films First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis. Those years are where a Stargazer story would have been set, well before the Enterprise.
Don’t expect McAvoy to fill the gap in the Marvel universe either. Redshirts Always Die reports he dismissed returning as Xavier for Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars during the California Schemin’ press tour. He said he’d done “10 good years” of it and didn’t want to repeat himself. For now, his young-Stewart work is limited to the Marvel universe.
Has Star Trek confirmed or commented on McAvoy’s pitch?
Not in the coverage we’ve seen. The account comes entirely from McAvoy’s interview, and no studio or franchise producer has responded publicly.
Is a young Picard series in development?
No project of that kind has been announced. McAvoy says his idea fell through because of logistical issues, and he described it as a one-off season he still thinks about.
