Hugh Jackman reveals Wolverine’s return in Deadpool 3 has “been brewing for a long time”

In September, the longtime pals Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman broke the internet as they announced the latter’s return as Wolverine in Marvel’s Deadpool 3 and turns out, the plan has “been brewing for a long time.”

As shared by Variety, Reynolds first met with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige three and a half years ago after Disney acquired Fox. “I got Kevin to talk what, if anything, the future holds for Deadpool in that transaction,” Reynolds said of his first meeting with Marvel following the Disney-Fox merger.

“The subject was coming up in the meeting about if we could find a way to do a Deadpool-Wolverine pairing. It wasn’t possible then. For this to be happening now is pretty damn exciting.” The duo had been friends since they met on the sets of 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which Reynolds played a different version of Deadpool.

“A little part of me now thinks I’d be better at it,” said Jackman who had previously stated on the Logan press tour that he was retiring from playing Wolverine. “Is that arrogance of age or something? Wolverine’s a tortured character — more tortured than me. But I always get the feeling of him being comfortable in his own skin. And I feel more comfortable in my own skin now, even though it’s messier.”

“I went to a screening of ‘Deadpool.’ I was 20 minutes in, and I was like, ‘Ah, damn it!’” Jackman said. “All I kept seeing in my head was ‘48 Hrs.’ with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. So, it’s been brewing for a long time. It just took me longer to get here.”

Jackman said he received calls “on the daily” from Reynolds where he would urge him to consider a Deadpool and Wolverine movie, but it wasn’t until a road trip to the beach with his family at the end of August that 54-year-old ultimately decided to come back. “I think, actually, he’d given up,” Jackman said of his phone call with Reynolds.

“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.’” Reynolds further told the outlet how thrilled he was about Jackman’s return. “It’s like old home week. To get to be on set with one of my closest friends each and every day is a dream come true. But to do it with these two iconic characters side by side, that’s beyond our wildest dreams.”

“I’ve always been blown away by the full spectrum of his talent,” Reynolds added. “He came onto this scene and entered the zeitgeist as this hyper-masculine superhero character but also he’s shooting musicals and he’s portraying these intense vulnerable characters in all kinds of films in all kinds of budgets for all kinds of audiences.”

The third installment for the R-rated franchise is scheduled for November 8, 2024, but the title will certainly not be just Deadpool 3. “Well, not in my heart,” Jackman said of the tentative name. “I’m pretty sure Wolverine wouldn’t like that title.”

Deadpool 3 is set to bow out in theaters November 8, 2024.