14 DAY TRIAL // Sad but not unexpected news for X-Men fans with a particular liking for the character of Wolverine: shortly after Marvel’s announcement that the practically indestructible Mutant will meet his demise in an upcoming issue, actor Hugh Jackman, who has been playing Wolverine since 2000, says the time has come for him to hang up his claws for good.
Again, this isn’t entirely surprising news, since he’s been dropping hints about that for at least a few good months, having started doing so when he kicked off the promo tour for last year’s “The Wolverine.” Still, there is a certain finality to hearing him say he’s done with the role after the sequel, assuming one is ever made.
In other words, worst case scenario, the last fans will see of Jackman as Wolverine will be in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” which comes out at the end of this month. Best case scenario, they will see him in another movie, which could, hypothetically, come out in 2016.
Whichever turns out to be the case, it’s clear that it’s time for fans to get ready to say their goodbyes.
“I still am very ambitious for the character,” Jackman says of the possibility of doing a sequel to last year’s “The Wolverine,” as cited by The Wrap. “And tonally I feel like we corrected the ship with the last one. But I feel we can still go further, in a way. If I did another one I'm 99.9% sure it would be the last, so that will inform what it is for me.”
That’s a big “if” right there, according to the talented and very handsome actor. So far, the sequel doesn’t have a script, doesn’t have a plot, and doesn’t even have a tentative timeline or release date. It might not even happen, even though last year’s release made a killing at the box office.
“I'm excited to see what we can come up with, but I haven't signed on signed on. I'm genuinely at that point where unless it's better than the last one I'm not going to do it. We are looking at a lot of different storylines. No one has jumped out. You can tell from my answer that we're still working it out,” Jackman explains.
Realistically speaking, it would be absurd to imagine Fox wouldn’t bend over backwards to get the sequel done, especially seeing how well “The Wolverine” performed at the box office. At the same time, it would be unrealistic to think that Jackman would really hang around for much longer on the franchise.
He’s 45 years old now. That’s far from old in real life, but it’s “old” in Hollywood terms for a role that implies such strenuous physical preparations and diets as Wolverine does. Jackman has said before that he was never happy when he went into preparation mode for the role, and we assume his dislike has increased with the years.