Hugh Jackman Was Happy to Leave Wolverine Behind Until He Realized He Missed It
The longest-running Marvel superhero actor, Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine in Deadpool 3 — but he really didn’t want to do it until he felt he needed it.
Without an exaggeration, Hugh Jackman is the longest-standing Marvel superhero actor: he’s been playing Wolverine since 2000!
And soon, as we all know, Jackman will reprise his role in Deadpool 3 — something he used to be adamant against. Why was the actor so keen on quitting his iconic role and what made him change his mind?
According to Hugh Jackman himself, he was really tired of playing Wolverine for 17 years (at that point) and wanted to make Logan his final installment as this character.
It was actually one of his most essential demands: he had to know it was the last gig.
"I was very clear this was the last one when we were making it. I don't think I could've made this movie unless I knew that. <...> [After Logan,] I'm going home — it's been a great party, thank you. I'm putting my pajamas on and going to bed,” the actor told BBC back in 2017.
While Jackman’s Wolverine and Reynolds’s Deadpool already shared the screen once, it was a different Deadpool altogether.
And Ryan Reynolds wanted to drag his old friend back into his standalone franchise — which the Wolverine actor strongly objected to. In the end, though, he realized he needed to be there for his own sake.
“I went to a screening of Deadpool. I was 20 minutes in, and I was like, ‘Ah, damn it!’ <...> So it’s been brewing for a long time. It just took me longer to get here. <...> I think, actually, [Ryan had] given up. I think it was a big shock to him. There was a massive pause, and then he said, ‘I can’t believe the timing of this,’” Jackman told Variety.
Even with Ryan Reynolds’s famous “go get it” attitude, no one really believed he’d get Hugh Jackman to reprise his role. It was the Wolverine actor’s inner battle that led to him finally agreeing — the feeling that he wanted and needed to put the costume back on and stand by his friend in the final movie of the Deadpool trilogy.