They said it would never happen, but Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard is returning to Star Trek.

Yes, the wheels are now in motion to do what just this summer seemed impossible and bring back the most beloved captain in the franchise’s history. But who could the producers turn to if they needed someone to play Picard in flashbacks? Assuming there even will be flashbacks, that is.

There are many talented individuals who could probably portray a younger version of the iconic character, but I honestly can’t think of anyone better than James McAvoy. That’s probably because he’s just such a damn good actor in general, but hey, he’s also shown that he can play a younger Patrick Stewart in the X-Men movies, so you know he’d be able to nail a young Picard.

And apparently, McAvoy really wants the role. Speaking to Collider, Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg vouched for the actor and said the following:

I’m going to actually put a pitch in for McAvoy [as young Picard] right now, I’ll tell Akiva this too, but if they ever need a flashback scene of young Picard, James really want to play young Picard. He wants to make a career of playing young Patrick Stewart.”

It’s hard to argue with any of this, as like we said above, McAvoy would be perfect for the job and given that he’s already expressed his interest on Twitter, there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen. Again, though, we’re not even certain that there’ll be flashbacks in the show, as we really know next to nothing about it right now.

Hopefully, though, we’ll have a better indication of what’s to come pretty soon. These are bright times for Star Trek fans, after all, and Picard’s imminent return to TV screens is just the glistening cherry atop a deliciously starship-shaped cake.