For 17 long, long years, Hugh Jackman brought Wolverine to life with such a raw intensity that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else donning those iconic adamantium claws anytime soon. That saga, one with many ups and downs, reached its conclusion back in March with the release of Logan, James Mangold’s poignant, R-rated finale that struck a chord with critics and X-Men fans the world over. And even now, over four months since it hit theatres, the film continues to find itself making headlines.
Most of that has to do with the predicament now facing Fox, that being having to find a way to move forward without their biggest star. Even before Jackman hung up the claws for the final time, many considered his version of the character to be irreplaceable, and any attempt to do so would only tarnish a 17-year legacy. But in a time when moviegoers are currently enjoying the sixth Spider-Man film in almost 15 years (Spider-Man: Homecoming), recasting Hugh Jackman seems inevitable.
Heck, even the actor himself has been fairly candid about the possibility of another person playing the iconic hero, and while speaking with Digital Spy recently, Jackman once again stated that we haven’t seen the last of Wolvie – just the last of him in the role.
“He’ll come back, just not with me,” he said. “You know, it’s like a Bond or it’s like a Batman, those kinds of roles. Other people will play him for sure.”
While we haven’t been told yet just how 20th Century Fox plans to proceed from here, what Jackman says does make sense. When you have a character as popular as Wolverine, you’re not just going to leave him on the shelf indefinitely. Sure, the actor may not suit up as the iconic X-Men leader again, but it’d be foolish to think that the studio doesn’t have any further plans for him. What those plans are is hard to say, and we probably won’t find out for some time, but we can at least rest easy knowing that we haven’t seen the last of the fan favorite mutant.
Besides, with or without him, the next few years certainly look bright for Fox’s X-Men Universe. We’ve got New Mutants, Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix to look forward to, not to mention any other unannounced projects that are still brewing in development. Big things are in store for the franchise, make no mistake about it, but no matter which new and exciting directions the studio heads in from here, I think we can all say that Jackman‘s absence will most definitely be felt.
