Hugh Jackman candidly revealed why he ended up returning as Wolverine for Ryan Reynolds’ upcoming MCU film Deadpool 3.
The last time the character was seen was during 2017’s Logan, where he starred alongside Dafne Keen’s X-23 (to whom he was able to give some solid acting advice). Following Wolverine’s death, the actor made it clear that a return was probably “not on the table.”
Yet, only months ago, Jackman surprised the world by announcing his return for Deadpool 3—a decision he claims to have made all on his own.
Now, the actor elaborated on what exactly happened to have him change his mind.
Hugh Jackman Hesitated on His Marvel Return
In an interview with Deadline, Deadpool 3 star Hugh Jackman commented on why he decided to return to his iconic role in Ryan Reynold’s upcoming threequel.
The actor revealed how just after announcing that Logan would be his last time as Wolverine, “20 minutes into watching Deadpool,“ he realized a return might not be so outlandish:
“Well, I was 20 minutes into watching Deadpool and I had just announced, literally, a few weeks before that Logan was going to be my last, which I fully intended. And then I was like, “Uh-oh.”
It was during his one week off after roughly 10 months when “it came to [him],” and he decided it was truly something he wanted to do.
“And here’s maybe a bit of a hangover from Florian. I was just driving out to the beach. It was mid-August, I had a week off from the show [The Music Man on Broadway], my first week off in eight, nine months, 10 months. And it came to me like, ‘I really want to do that.’ And that was it.”
Not much longer after that did he call Ryan Reynolds himself, where the actor reportedly responded, asking Jackman, “are you serious?:”
“As soon as I arrived at the beach, I rang Ryan [Reynolds] just to see what the hell was going on. And then here we are. It was so quick. And trust me, there’s not a morning I don’t wake up where Ryan Reynolds is outside my house with posters saying, “Please.” He’s constantly asking me about it. And I was like, ‘Dude, I’m done. I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done.’ So then when he rang me [back], he was like, ‘Are you serious?’ So yeah.”
The actor told the truth in that all the time he was claiming to be done, “[he] really meant it:”
“I’m a terrible poker player. All this time I was saying I was done, I really meant it. But anyway, somewhere deep down, this idea was obviously lurking and brewing.”
What’s Ahead for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine
One of the most important things about Jackman’s return is that it won’t affect what was done in Logan, a movie many consider to be one of the best comic book films of all time.
If it isn’t a continuation, then whichever version of Wolverine who’ll end up in Deadpool 3 will almost certainly be a Variant. This would also line up with the rumors of Owen Wilson’s Mobius showing up, which might also indicate the TVA’s involvement.
Seeing as Fox never kept track of their X-Men timelines all that well, another Variant of the character shouldn’t throw off very many people.
But will Jackman do anything after this third Deadpool film? Well, there’s Avengers: Secret Wars. The actor has previously mentioned a desire to do something in that franchise, and also, considering the pure scale of the project, fans should probably expect most Marvel names to be a part of it in some way or another.
After that, however, it’s likely he won’t be doing anything else. As Jackman mentioned, he was being genuine when he previously claimed to be done with the role, so his return seems to be a temporary one.
After all, the MCU will need to find its own Wolverine one day, and after Secret Wars would be the best time to introduce them.
Deadpool 3 is currently set to hit theaters on November 8, 2024.
