Logan Is Not Set In The X-Men Universe, Says Hugh Jackman

It’s no secret that Logan is set to be very different not only from every other X-Men movie, but almost any other comic book adaptation we’ve seen to date. That’s been made very evident throughout the film’s marketing campaign, which culminated in a stunning trailer that released this past week. What we never realized, though, is that not only is Logan not following in the footsteps of its predecessors, but it’s actually set in an entirely different universe than the other X-Men outings.

Speaking to Digital Spy in a recent interview, Hugh Jackman said the following about his final effort as the clawed mutant:

“When you see the full movie you’ll understand,” the actor explained. “Not only is it different in terms of timeline and tone, it’s a slightly different universe. It’s actually a different paradigm and that will become clear.”

On why he wanted to to do something unique and different, here’s what the actor shared:

“I said this was my last one and they said make the movie you want to make,” Jackman said about Fox. “And so Jim and I had this blank canvas and we wanted to make something really different. Definitely tonally different, I kept thinking The Wrestler, Unforgiven. It’s a stand alone movie in many ways. It’s not really beholden to time lines and story lines in the other movies. Obviously Patrick Stewart was in there so we have some crossover but it feels very different and very fresh.”

It’s no secret that the timeline in the X-Men franchise has become an utter mess, and that’s something which isn’t lost on Jackman, either. Speaking about why that is, the actor noted that no one ever thought that the original would spawn so many sequels and spinoffs.

“[Following the timelines] becomes a chess game that you try to serve, which actually doesn’t help to tell a story and it’s sort of been a bit all over the place. I’m not critical of it – X-Men was the first movie really in comic book, no one thought there’d be another and there were different directors different off shoots.”

While a bit confusing, these comments do help to put a few things into perspective. For one, it now makes sense why we have a new version of Caliban in the film after he appeared in X-Men: Apocalypse. However, this also opens up a whole can of worms in regards to how Logan fits into everything. If it’s not set in the same continuity, there’s going to be a lot of questions coming out of the film in regards to how it relates to what’s come before and what will come next.

That being said, having Logan be free of the cinematic universe we thought it was connected to could be for the best. Like Jackman mentioned, this is his last outing and starting with a blank canvas should mean that he got to make the film he wanted to make, and that can only be a good thing for the fans, right?

Logan hits theaters on March 3rd, and aside from Jackman, it stars Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Stephen Merchant and Boyd Holbrook, among others.