X-Men star James McAvoy claims that playing a young Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek is his “territory”

James McAvoy appears on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'

Last week, we told you about the Star Trek parody, Star Force 2, the socially-distant sequel to the short film, Star Force: Sci-Fisolation. It looks like actor James McAvoy, who assumed the captain’s chair in Star Force, has caught the Star Trek “bug” and doesn’t want to let go. McAvoy appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon this week, where he staked his claim - on the role of Jean-Luc Picard.

Having played an earlier version of Stewart’s character, Professor Charles Xavier, in four of FOX’s X-Men films, McAvoy might seem an obvious choice to play “young Picard”. In his mind, however, he is the only choice. When Fallon asked, “Is there any world where you would play a young Jean-Luc Picard?” the actor was delighted to respond saying, “Jimmy, that is the only world that exists, in which I will play Jean-Luc Picard. Any other world is just an alternate reality in a bad episode of Star Trek”.

Though it might seem impossible for anyone to fill the shoes of Stewart as Picard, the 41 year old actor is eager for the chance. McAvoy went on to say that if he isn’t chosen for the role, he would do it himself, filming it all on his phone.

Unfortunately, there are no plans yet - that we know of - for a Star Trek series or film featuring a younger Picard character. But that doesn’t matter to McAvoy, who took a rather primal approach to securing the role, telling Fallon, “I'm calling it right now. I'm doing the virtual lockdown equivalent of rubbing my scent all over Patrick's face and saying this territory is mine.”

The full Tonight Show interview with James McAvoy is available to watch now on YouTube.