Hugh Jackman Isn’t Ready To Hang Up His Wolverine Claws Anytime Soon: “I’m Never Saying ‘Never’ Again”

“X-Men” franchise star Hugh Jackman really looked to have retired from the Wolverine role after a masterstroke of a swan song in James Mangold‘s “Logan,” but a very persistant Ryan Reynolds kept pestering the Aussie actor to reprise the mutant anti-hero for a third “Deadpool” film and ultimately said yes once the characters were firming in the control of Kevin Feige/Marvel Studios with their R-rated two-hander Multiverse romp “Deadpool & Wolverine” (a billion-dollar hit).

While appearing on the popular British chat program “The Graham Norton Show” (via Entertainment Weekly), Jackman revealed he’s done saying “never” to returning to the Wolverine role that could be telegraphing a potential return at some point in the MCU after a bunch of his Singerverse co-stars (Kesley Grammer, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, Patrick Steward, Ian McKellan, and Rebecca Romjin) are set to appear in “Avengers: Doomsday” for The Russo Brothers.

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“Every time you’re on, you gotta go, ‘Nope, I’m not doing that again,'” Jackman said before Norton pointed out the last film being a massive hit. “But then you keep making another one. And it’s a big, big hit. So are you gonna have to do it again?”

“Maybe,” Jackman replied with a smirk. Then joked, “I am never saying ‘never’ ever again.” He continued, “I did mean it when I said ‘never,’ until the day when I changed my mind. But I really did for quite a few years, I meant it.”

Where and when we could see Jackman’s Wolverine variant (not playing his original Singerverse iteration anymore after that one’s death, but is playing a more sully version plucked out of the Multiverse) show up again beyond the “Avengers” sequels is a little trickier. There had been longstanding expectations from fans and various online scoopers that Jackman could be showing up in “Avengers: Secret Wars” (we’re already getting headaches from AI-created fake set photos making the rounds online), however, that has yet to be made official and there is also some other crossover “Deadpool” project in the works from Reynolds (an “X-Force” revival after plans for that movie were axed during the merger or something else? that we could easily see Jackman being a part of, that’s if it’s really mutant-related or not.

We have to assume that Jake Schreier‘s big “X-Men” reboot will indeed cast a new Wolverine actor (they keep referring to it as a reboot after all and talking up the idea of younger cast members), but that doesn’t mean any MCU projects with Jackman are entirely off the table, as this Deadpool corner of the MCU could allow for another solo project or team-up with other more rough-and-tumble mutants in the future. And it doesn’t hurt that “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier” series has now established Madripoor (a popular stomping ground of Logan’s that is connected to all sorts of criminal elements including The Hand) as an official MCU location, which will be a locale explored in the upcoming Marvel Games release (“Marvel’s Wolverine“) that will likely only increase demand for a new Wolverine project from Marvel Studios.

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We’ll just have to wait and see where/when Jackman is called upon to play Wolverine again, if ever.