‘Love & Death’ Star Tom Pelphrey Reveals He Almost Played Professor X in the New X-Men Movie

Casting a character as iconic as Professor X comes with an enormous amount of scrutiny, and Marvel Studios spent months quietly working through a shortlist of actors before finally settling on their pick. For fans who had spent weeks speculating about who might take on the role, the eventual announcement at D23 answered one question while opening up a whole new conversation about who almost got there first.

Christopher Abbott ultimately landed the part, joining Marvel’s new X-Men film fresh off his turn in ‘Wolf Man.’ Before that casting became official, several other names had been floated for consideration, including Bill Skarsgård, Harris Dickinson, Will Poulter, and Tom Pelphrey.

Pelphrey has now confirmed he was genuinely in the mix for the role, and he’s not shy about explaining why it might not have ultimately worked out. Speaking on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, recorded just three days before Abbott’s casting became public, Pelphrey joked about one very specific physical hurdle standing in his way. “I’ve also got a fat head. I have a watermelon,” he said. “I was like, ‘If we’re even going to have this conversation, go into your AI image generator and look at me with a shaved head. That alone could be horrifying enough.'”

Pelphrey didn’t stop there, doubling down on the bit with even more specific detail about his head size. “I’m not kidding. The only hat I can wear is a fitted size eight,” he continued. “It is empirically a big fat head, and I don’t know if we want to see it shaved.”

That kind of candid, self-deprecating humor has become something of a trademark for Pelphrey in interviews, and this moment quickly caught fire online once his comments started circulating. For a character as visually recognizable as Professor X, often depicted with a shaved head in his most iconic on-screen portrayals, Pelphrey’s joke landed as a clever bit of honest self-assessment rather than genuine bitterness over losing the role.

While this particular role didn’t pan out, Pelphrey isn’t exactly a stranger to Marvel projects. He previously played Ward Meachum in Netflix’s ‘Iron Fist’ back in 2017 and more recently appeared in Disney+’s ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ in 2025, giving him a track record within the broader Marvel universe even without ever suiting up as a mutant.

His career has spanned a wide range of acclaimed work beyond superhero properties as well, including his Emmy-nominated performance as Ben Davis in Netflix’s ‘Ozark,’ a memorable turn as Kurt Bunker on Cinemax’s ‘Banshee,’ and film credits in David Fincher’s ‘Mank’ and ‘She Said.’ He got his start winning two Daytime Emmy Awards for his role on ‘Guiding Light’ before transitioning into prestige television and film work.

Given how competitive casting for a franchise as high-profile as Marvel’s rebooted X-Men lineup tends to be, simply being in serious consideration alongside names like Skarsgård and Poulter speaks to how highly regarded Pelphrey has become within the industry. His willingness to poke fun at the situation, rather than treat it as a disappointment, only adds to his reputation as one of Hollywood’s more refreshingly grounded actors.

With Abbott now locked in as Professor X and Marvel’s new X-Men film continuing to build out its cast, Pelphrey’s brief flirtation with the role will likely be remembered more for his hilarious commentary than the casting decision itself. Sometimes losing a role to someone else comes with its own kind of win, especially when the runner-up gets to have the last laugh in the press.

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