Patrick Stewart (Picard) continues to make the rounds publicising his upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand and talking about rumours concerning the future of the Star Trek franchise.

"I have heard nothing that has linked Next Generation to a possible new project, and so I don't know, I'm not really thinking about it," Stewart said in a report at If Magazine. "Everyone is asking me about this as if I should know...it's a little like a love affair that you've gotten over."

Stewart admitted that he has mixed feelings about the franchise, which was dismissed after Nemesis failed to make a strong impression at the box office. "We ourselves had been saying for several years that we didn't want to overstay our welcome," he conceded, saying that he remained proud of the show. "It was a great part of my life and I don't know if would be smart to put that space suit up again", but he would love to work with the Next Generation cast again "because I love these people and I cannot see enough of them."

Comics Continuum also attended an X-Men press junket, where Stewart discussed how his character was made to look younger with computer wizardry and noted that he was not surprised his role was not very large in the film.

"I don't think I had any less to do in this film than to do in this film, than either of the other two," Stewart said, noting that "Xavier has essentially been a supporting role in all of them. I have been unconscious or half-dead or in some sort of stasis in each one of the movies." Though he was initially uneasy about a change in directors, Stewart said that he found Brett Ratner to be "a man who just made it happen, whose energy is so enormous and whose technical skills are so complete."

Stewart said he had had conversations both about the possibility of Xavier not surviving in the film and about ways of bringing the character back if he was killed. He described the new movie as dark, "with the death of Jean Grey still hovering over it and the massive impact that losing Jean had on the X-Men...the last hour of the film gives you a sense that everything might be lost. It's in the balance."

X-Men: The Last Stand opens in the US next weekend.

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