17 years after he first appeared as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, Hugh Jackman will be saying goodbye to the beloved character in James Mangold’s upcoming third Wolverine movie, the actor confirmed today.
“This will be my last one,” he said of the 2017 pic when asked point-blank whether he would be hanging up his adamantium claws on the Dr. Oz show. “It is my last time,” he continued, adding:
“It just felt like it was the right time to do it. And let’s be honest, 17 years. I never thought in a million years it would last, so I’m so grateful to the fans for the opportunity of playing it. I kind of have in my head what we’re going to do in this last one. It just feels like this is the perfect way to go out.”
It makes sense that Jackman would want to move on to other roles after playing the hot-tempered, cigar-chomping mutant for almost two decades, across a whopping nine X-Men films (including his uncredited cameo in X-Men: First Class, and assuming he appears in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse). Regardless of whether Logan pops up before his swan song in what’s still just known as Wolverine 3, Jackman has turned the character into one of the most popular superheroes in modern cinema.
No details are known about the plot of the third Wolverine movie, but it will exist outside of the storylines that are unfolding in the new Days of Future Past/Apocalypse chronology. Patrick Stewart is rumored to appear as Professor X, and given how Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey haunted Logan throughout The Wolverine, it’s not a stretch to imagine her character popping up in some capacity (especially now that Days of Future Past has retconned her and Cyclops’ deaths).
Now, the tricky question becomes, will Fox attempt to recast the role? No actor is as closely tied to their role as Jackman is to Wolverine, and so it would be an uphill battle for the studio to do so. Still, the mutant is a central figure in the X-Men lineup, so trying to continue the franchise without him could be problematic.
What say you, fanboys?
