Bromance alert! From onscreen foes to real-life friends, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen’s friendship is one for the books.
The British actors, who have known each other for more than 40 years, only became close two decades ago when they costarred in 2000’s X-Men. In the film, Stewart plays Professor Charles Xavier, or Professor X, while McKellen plays his adversary, Erik Lehnsherr, a.k.a. Magneto.
In between takes, however, the two became fast friends.
“On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera,” the Star Trek star revealed on Wired’s “Web’s Most Searched Questions” YouTube series in February 2020. “So, Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea — and maybe in the afternoon, something a little stronger — and we got to know one another.”
Despite meeting years prior, while working on Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977, the pair didn’t cement their bond until X-Men.
Since playing rivals in the sci-fi film, the friends have reprised their roles in numerous movies within the franchise: X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Professionally, the men have joined forces on stage as well.
The longtime friends starred in the Two Plays in Rep, a combination of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Gadot, beginning in 2013. They promoted the dual shows’ premiere in New York City by adventuring all over town and documenting it on social media. The duo stopped at famous food places, took photos together at Coney Island and posed with a mini Statue of Liberty.
In between their joint ventures, Stewart has continued to portray Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek franchise, his latest being in 2020’s Star Trek: Picard series. McKellen, on the other hand, has been seen in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films as Gandalf and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast.
The actors, who were both knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, have also been a big part of each other’s personal lives. When Stewart married Sunny Ozell in 2013, McKellen was the officiant.
“Happy 80th birthday wishes to @IanMcKellen,” Stewart wrote via Instagram in May 2019, celebrating his pal’s birthday. “Sunny and I are grateful for all the love over the years, whether as a dear friend, minister at our wedding, or colleague on screen and stage.”
Scroll down to relive McKellen and Stewart’s bromance over the years.
The longtime friends stopped at Nathan’s Famous in New York in September 2013 for hot dogs and corn. They were gearing up for the premiere of their two plays, No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot, which they co-starred in. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
“Didi and Gogo do Times Square with Elmo. #twoplaysinrep,” McKellen wrote via Instagram in September 2013 while in New York with his friend. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
The duo headed to the top of the Empire State Building as a part of their promotional tour for their two plays. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
“Rubbish! #Gogodididonyc,” McKellen wrote alongside a snap of the pair next to a garbage pile in NYC in September 2013. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
The pair stopped for a pint while spending time together in New York City in October 2013. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
“Jogging! #gogodididonyc @twoplaysinrep #hudson (close enough),” McKellen captioned the October 2013 photo of the two Brits running. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
“Coney souvenir!” the Lord of the Rings star wrote alongside a photo booth snap of the two actors on Coney Island in October 2013. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
The longtime pals took a break from their NYC adventures in October 2013 to pose with statues on a bench. Courtesy of Ian McKellen/Instagram
The costars channeled their Statue of Liberty in March 2014 to announce that there were only 14 performances left of their run. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
“As it's @TwoPlaysInRep last 2 weeks we thought we'd share all the #gogodididonyc ‘outtakes,’” Stewart captioned a photo of the pair at Katz’s Delicatessen in NYC posted in March 2014. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
Stewart and McKellen reunited with costars James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender at the London premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past in May 2014. Jonathan Short/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
The Beauty and the Beast star and American Dad! actor donned festive crowns as they rang in the new year in December 2015. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
“The quintessential journalist. A pleasure to speak with @Camanpour alongside my dear friend @IanMcKellen on #CNNI,” Stewart wrote via Instagram after an interview with Christiane Amanpour in October 2016. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
The duo wore matching Early Bird foods tees as they reunited with an old friend in Hyde Park, London, in November 2016. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
The actors promoted their No Man’s Land play coming to England by posing alongside a Beefeater in December 2016. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
The duo appeared in No Man’s Land together on stage in the West End in London throughout 2016 and in December of that year it was shown in theaters worldwide. Dan Wooller/Shutterstock
“This was so much fun that 10 minutes in I forgot we were on camera,” Stewart wrote via Instagram on a group photo at the Graham Norton Show in February 2017 while he was promoting Logan. Isabel Infantes/PA Images/INSTARimages.
The friends cozied up to read Sally Kohn’s The Opposite of Hate in April 2018. Courtesy of Patrick Stewart/Instagram
McKellen arrived at the Star Trek: Picard premiere in London in January 2020, to support Stewart, who is the lead of the series. Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
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