With just about a month to go until the release of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, the promotional campaign is in full force with still, trailers, featurettes, and more. But even though Bryan Singer’s latest movie isn’t out yet, many are wondering about the future of the franchise already. Back in December, we learned that the story would continue in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ and last week we got some hints about the story, but details are still fuzzy about which characters would be coming back for another installment. Since Professor X is an integral part of the team, one would assume that he would return, right? Well, the legendary actor who portrays the older version of Charles Xavier seems to think so.

In an interview with MTV, Patrick Stewart hinted that he might not be done with the X-Men just yet. When asked about coming back for the next chapter of Fox’s Marvel mutant movies, the actor said that dead doesn’t always mean dead in this particular genre, so it’s possible that we could see him in the iconic wheelchair again. In fact, he seems confident that we will. You can see his comments in the video below:

However, Simon Kinberg seems to offer a contradictory stance on Stewart’s return. While speaking with HitFix at this weekend’s WonderCon, the writer indicated that the original cast may not be featured in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’:

“Certainly things that take place in ‘Days of Future Past’ in the past have an impact on the future. That’s the whole point of the plot and, I can say, in at least the vaguest of terms there care repercussions from what happens in 1973 that ripple all the way forward in time. Which means they would ripple through the time periods of the original ‘X-Men’ movies. That’s a vague answer to your question.

[Apocalypse] really follows the ‘First Class’ cast. Meaning it is a sequel that will feature McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nic Hoult and that cast. It is not a sequel that would necessarily feature Ian, Patrick, Halle and the original cast.  It would take place roughly between the past of ‘Days of Future Past’ and when ‘X-Men’ first started.”

Now, Kinberg says that the next X-Men movie wouldn’t “necessarily feature” the stars of the first trilogy, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still be included in some small way. And even if we don’t see Stewart in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, it’s possible that he could have a cameo in ‘X-Force’, which is currently in development at Fox with ‘Kick-Ass 2’ director Jeff Wadlow, or some other X-project that we don’t know about yet. After all, with the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, every studio that holds the rights to characters from the House of Ideas is planning on expanding with more movies in the coming years.

What do you think about Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Professor X in future X-Men movies? Do you think that we’ll see him or any of the other original cast members past ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ hits theaters on May 23, 2014.