When Hugh Jackman signed on to a third Deadpool movie as the Wolverine, it was so spontaneous that he forgot to tell his agent first.
The actor recently sat down with Fandango, alongside his co-star Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy, to talk about his decision to reprise the superhero role after being killed off in 2017’s Logan.
“I was on my way, I was just driving, and literally, just like a bolt of lightning, came this knowing deep in my gut that I wanted to do this film with Ryan,” Jackman explained. “For Deadpool and Wolverine to come back together. I swear to you, When I said I was done, I really thought I was done. But in the back of my head, ever since I saw Deadpool 1, I was like, ‘Those two characters together.’ I knew it, I knew the fans wanted it ever since I put on the claws, people talked about these two. So, that had always been there, but I just knew.”
The Greatest Showman star continued, “And I literally couldn’t wait to arrive. As soon as I arrived, I rang Ryan. And I just said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Like, I hadn’t rung my agent, no one. I had to ring my agent and said, ‘Oh, by the way, I have just committed to a movie.’ … Sometimes in life things come really clearly to you, and when that happens I’ve learned you just jump, you go for it.”
However, there was one person who was most nervous about Jackman’s return to his beloved Wolverine role. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige told Empire magazine earlier this month that he warned the actor against reprising the character again.
“I said, ‘Let me give you a piece of advice, Hugh. Don’t come back’,” he recalled. “‘You had the greatest ending in history with Logan. That’s not something we should undo.’”
They eventually convinced Feige it would be worth it, especially since Jackman would be playing a version of Wolverine that’s different from his previous portrayals in the X-Men movies.
The Oscar-nominated actor added to Empire at the time that the upcoming Disney film was particularly “exciting” for him because he got to show “different sides of Wolverine we haven’t seen before in the movies.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is set to hit theaters July 26.
