Normally, it would be pretty silly to devote an entire news article to what an actor’s hair will look like in an upcoming movie, but here, I’ll make an exception. After sporting a full head of hair in X-Men: First Class and a shaggy mane in X-Men: Days of Future Past, it’s been revealed that James McAvoy is finally shaving it all off to play the famously bald leader of the X-Men, Professor X, in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse.
Director Bryan Singer released a behind-the-scenes shot of McAvoy in the barber’s chair, newly bald for the part. The shift means that his Xavier is getting closer and closer to the Patrick Stewart version of the character who last appeared in Days of Future Past. That makes sense, seeing as Apocalypse is set in the ’80s and picks up with Professor X around 20 years after he appeared in the ’60s-set First Class.
Apocalypse features a huge cast of younger, recast X-Men characters and old faves, including Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Olivia Munn as Psylocke, Ben Hardy as Angel, Lana Condor as Jubilee, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Ian McKellen as an older Magneto, Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert and Oscar Isaac as villain Apocalypse. Also rumored to play a role in the massive blockbuster are Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Channing Tatum’s Gambit.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens May 27, 2016.