A secret Star Trek series nearly had James McAvoy as young Jean-Luc Picard

Here we go again with James McAvoy vying for another chance to walk in Patrick Stewart's shadow, only this time swapping out X-Men's infamous bald look for Starfleet red. If you didn't know, McAvoy played the younger Professor X, which was basically a free audition for any role Stewart ever had, but apparently he wanted to double-dip with Jean-Luc Picard as well.

The pitch: Picard but younger

So here's the inside scoop: McAvoy went on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and spilled that he actually pitched a whole series called Mutiny on the Stargazer, where he'd play early-career Picard. The idea was to make a limited, standalone season focusing on Picard's time commanding the USS Stargazer (for the non-nerds, it's the ship Picard ran before the Enterprise). According to McAvoy, he got fairly close to making it happen, but it fizzled out for reasons that sound mostly like classic showbiz logistics.

Here's McAvoy himself describing the near-miss and just how much he was into the idea, speaking on Happy Sad Confused:

That was a whole idea I had I pitched to the Star Trek people as well, and we nearly did it. I've got a whole story about an early Picard. All I really want to do in my career is play young versions of Patrick [Stewart].

He kept going, saying he'd mapped out the season, all about what went down when Picard took over as captain of the Stargazer and the "secret he's been holding his entire career." Apparently, the studio was keen, but things just couldn't line up.

I had this whole story of a young Picard that I love. I pitched, it was like a one-off standalone season … when he took over as Captain of the Stargazer and what actually happened, and the secret he's been holding his entire career. I just pitched it to them, talking to them, and they were into it, but we had logistical issues that meant we couldn't do it. But I love that story that I just got to bed and think about it at night.

Would it ever have happened?

Timing-wise, if McAvoy's dream gig had landed anywhere near Star Trek's big 60th anniversary, fans would have absolutely lost the plot. Not just because it's McAvoy, but because Trek loyalists love a tidbit of backstory and nostalgia on tap. Instead, the franchise has been doing just the opposite—giving beloved spin-offs the axe at a rate that should worry anyone with a uniform in their cupboard.

• Starfleet Academy – canned by Paramount straight after its first finale, despite an 87% critic score
• Recent curtains for Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Picard itself

The big question: is there even room for a project like McAvoy's Stargazer these days, or is Star Trek drifting off into limbo while execs decide which bit of IP to dust off next?