Patrick Stewart on 'X-Men': Ian McKellen and I Won't Be Back for 'Apocalypse' (Exclusive)

X-Men fans, get your tissues out. We have some depressing news.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, the beloved elder statesmen of the movie series, won’t be returning for the forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, Yahoo Movies has learned exclusively. Stewart delivered the news in an interview with Larry King on Larry King Now. (The full episode airs Wednesday at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on www.ora.tv.)

The question has lingered over whether the older incarnations of Professor X (Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) would be coming back for the sequel, since the last installment, X-Men: Days of Future Past, featured both Stewart and McKellen as well as their respective younger counterparts in the roles, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.

Now we have the latest word straight from Stewart. When King asked the actor point-blank whether he’d be in Apocalypse, Stewart responded, “No. Nor Sir Ian McKellen, either.

"I was learning quite a lot more about it last night, and it is going to be looking very much at the earlier lives of all our characters. And so I don’t think we’ll be making an appearance."

Apocalypse from ‘Days of Future Past’

In the comics, Apocalpyse, aka En Sabah Nur, is the Earth’s first mutant. He assembles his Four Horseman in an effort to take over the world. Only the X-Men stand in his way. The film adaptation, teased at the end of Days of Future Past, is set for release on May 27, 2016.

While Stewart appears to be sitting Apocalypse out, he might not be gone for good. The actor has previously hinted he’d be up for his Professor X popping up in an X-Men spinoff. Maybe he’ll find his way into Gambit, starring Channing Tatum, or Deadpool, with Ryan Reynolds.

Photo: 20th Century Fox