Giancarlo Esposito would choose Magneto over Professor X

Giancarlo Esposito has addressed the long-running fan campaign to cast him as Professor Charles Xavier, revealing that Magneto is the X-Men character he would most like to play.

The idea gained momentum in 2022, when fans shared edited images of Esposito as the telepathic leader. Best known for roles in Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian and The Gentlemen, the actor previously welcomed the suggestion. He now says he is not disappointed that Christopher Abbott, known for Catch-22, was cast as Professor X for the 2028 X-Men film instead.

Why Magneto appeals to Esposito

Esposito explained that the Professor X casting was never more than a fan-created idea, although it appealed to him because of the character’s leadership and moral complexity. Magneto, however, holds a stronger attraction for the actor.

“I like Magneto. I like that world. That world has its own rhythm to it that is fantastical in some ways. Freeze is another one that I would like to be.”

His comments came before the premiere of season 2 of The Gentlemen, in which he plays Stanley Johnston, an American billionaire and history enthusiast living in London.

His Marvel role took a different path

Esposito did join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025, playing the mercenary leader Sidewinder in Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World. He said the film’s version did not follow the comics’ history as closely as he had hoped.

In the comics, Sidewinder is Seth Voelker, an economics professor who becomes a supervillain while working for the criminal corporation Roxxon. Esposito was more interested in portraying that educated scientist’s transformation than simply playing a mercenary.

“I like Sidewinder, and I love the fact that I could be that mercenary, but I was even more interested in playing Seth Voelker, the scientist, the educated man who then flipped. There’s a story there which I didn’t have the ability to tell in what I had to do in Captain America 4.”

From comic-book villains to historical revolutionaries

Although Esposito remains interested in playing more supervillains, his ambitions extend beyond comic-book stories. He has also identified historical figures he would like to portray, including the poet, artist and musician Alexander Pushkin and Toussaint Louverture, the liberator of Haiti and leader of its uprising.

Esposito said he respects different cultures and societies, an interest he brings to Stanley Johnston in The Gentlemen. The character studies English traditions, power and royal succession while encouraging Duke Eddie Horniman, played by Theo James, to pursue criminal and political ambitions.

For Johnston, Eddie’s choices create an absorbing question: will he protect his inheritance and its legacy, or waste it? Esposito described the character as fascinated by how human behaviour can lead to either advancement or downfall.

What comes next?

Johnston and viewers will see the consequences of Eddie’s decisions when The Gentlemen returns for season 3. For now, Esposito’s comments leave Magneto, Pushkin and Toussaint Louverture among the roles he would most like to explore.

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