WOLVERINE 3 Will Likely Be Hugh Jackman’s Last X-MEN Film

We’ve had a lot of famous superhero performances over the years, but few have compared to Hugh Jackman’s tenure as the enigmatic Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine. With X-Men: Days of Future Past, Jackman will have appeared in seven movies as the character, and is the only actor to appear in all the films.

However, unlike the ageless Canadian he plays on the big screen, Jackman is getting older, and his time with the character may soon be over. In fact, the recently announced Wolverine 3 may not be the done deal that Fox says it is, as implied by Jackman’s answer to SFX on where he would want Logan to go in the third installment.

I don’t know yet. We’re talking it through. I still am very ambitious for the character. And tonally I feel like we corrected the ship with the last one. But I feel we can still go further, in a way. If I did another one I’m 99.9% sure it would be the last, so that will inform what it is for me.

Jackman did, however, have a few ideas. First off, he doesn’t want to retread the Japanese route, preferring to go for a “different visual palette.” Second, they’re already looking at an iconic storyline from recent years to adapt as Logan’s finale.

Well, of course we’re looking at Old Man Logan, because that may be the only option left at this point! [laughs] We are looking at a lot of different storylines. No one has jumped out. You can tell from my answer that we’re still working it out. I’m working with Jim Mangold, which is exciting. Jim came on board The Wolverine after Darren [Aronofsky] left, so he inherited it. And of all the things that Jim can do, one of the great things he does is develop scripts. I’m excited to see what we can come up with, but I haven’t signed on signed on. I’m genuinely at that point where unless it’s better than the last one I’m not going to do it.

It seems premature for Fox to announce Wolverine 3 before the main star even commits to it. Roles are recast many times in Hollywood, but Jackman’s been Wolverine for so long that it would be inappropriate for them to recast him in what’s probably going to be Wolverine’s final appearance. Sure, his portrayal of the ferocious mutant has had its share of criticism (mostly because of his overexposure), but he’s still done an excellent job playing what is now unarguably Marvel’s most famous mutant.

Send him off with a bang in a way that closes out Jackman’s tenure but leaves the door open for another actor to take the reins. Adapt Old Man Logan as a possible future for the character. It may be a little similar to Day of Future Past, but it would be interesting to see the X-Men world decades in the future when most of his modern day allies are either elderly or dead. I’d say that’s exciting enough for Jackman to jump on board for one last hurrah.

Then we can finally start focusing on other characters in the X-Men universe. Seriously, Wolverine’s cool, but he’s part of an ensemble, and aside from First Class, they’re hasn’t been much focus on the other characters. It’s time for a new era of mutant exposure. Well, unless it’s Blob. I don’t think anybody wants him exposed.

SOURCE: SFX