It's no longer a question of when the X-Men will make their appearance in the MCU but when. When the group of mutants does finally make their real debut, there are some rumors that a brand new Professor X in the form of Giancarlo Esposito could be leading the pack.
For years, the MCU has ignored the idea of mutants and the X-Men, but that's all changed in 2022. Sony has long held the rights to mutants thanks to their own X-Men films that ended with the critically hated Dark Phoenix film. However, the rights to those heroes have finally landed in the lap of Marvel, and the company has made it very clear that the characters are going to be making an appearance on the big screen at some point in the not-too-distant future. There was, of course, a bit of a hat tip to that, thanks to Patrick Stewart's appearance as Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange 2. But at some point, the group will appear in all their glory. It appears when that happens, a brand-new actor will take on the role of Professor X.
As MovieWeb points out, the rumors that Giancarlo Esposito could take on the role of Professor X are unsubstantiated, but fans on social media have taken the whispers and run with them. While most fans think that it could be too good to be true that the man who plays a villainous role in The Mandalorian could play a hero in the MCU, everyone who has talked about the rumor is fully on board.
While Esposito taking on the role of the wheelchair-bound leader of the X-Men is still just rumors, it does make some sense in that he's about to see a major gap in his schedule. The actor is wrapping up his role as Gus Fring in Better Call Saul. While he tends to play morally ambiguous at best characters, taking on Charles Xavier would certainly be a shift in his typecasting.
Esposito in this role would certainly be a shift for Marvel when it comes to the X-Men but it's worth noting that Patrick Stewart's appearance in Doctor Strange 2 seems to actually give the company the freedom to make those changes. Because Stewart was an alternate reality Professor X, the MCU could have an entirely different version.
There is one big reason to doubt whether Giancarlo Esposito is about to make the leap. He is indeed going to need to spend some time in The Mandalorian Season 3. The flipside of that of course, is that it's still not known when the X-Men will actually appear in the MCU and so far, it appears it will be several years.
Source: MovieWeb