Young Wolverine Movie Almost Featured Tom Hardy

For a character that has ostensibly been retired from the X-Men universe – for now, at least – Wolverine has been gaining an awful lot of traction over the past few days.

On Tuesday, for instance, Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) spilled details on his wistful plans for a young Wolverine spinoff, one that would have slotted in between First Class and Days of Future Past on Fox’s release slate. Alas, that vision never came to be, and Vaughn later handed over the reins to franchise stalwart Bryan Singer.

However, when that fabled Wolverine pic was still kicking around in Matthew Vaughn’s head, it turns out the writer-director had fleshed out a rough idea for when and where his Logan spinoff would’ve taken place. Spoilers: it would have largely unraveled in the ’70s, before Days of Future Past brought the curtain down on his X-Men prequel trilogy further down the line.

Who would pick up the adamantium claws opposite Hugh Jackman, you ask? A little-known actor by the name of Tom Hardy, whose name Matthew Vaughn mentioned in a recent interview with Deadline.

Currently in the midst of press on The Golden Circle, Vaughn took the chance to post new intel on his mooted Wolverine spinoff, how it molded into the overarching timeline, and why Tom Hardy would’ve been cast as the young Logan.

Per Deadline:

When we finished it, I remember saying to Simon Kinberg and Emma Watts; guys, this feels like it should be the third of the trilogy. It’s such a big concept. Why don’t we do another, one set in the ’70s, because of Young Wolverine, and then the third one is Days of Future Past, where you’re seeing the Young Wolverine with, let’s say it’s Tom Hardy, and Hugh Jackman and all the other characters were together. For me, that’s the end of a trilogy. How do you beat that? And I got told no, and when I’m in my sandpit, I don’t like hearing no if I think it’s a good idea. I adore Bryan, and I thought, you know what, I’m going to hand the baton to him. Bryan was nice enough to give me the baton to run with. And I ran with it, and didn’t fall over, and I handed it back.

Tom Hardy and Hugh Jackman sharing the screen in an X-Men movie? Where do we sign up? Granted, the former may still have a shot at donning the claws, as Fox boss Stacey Snider recently hinted that rebooting Wolverine with a new actor is not off the table.