Attention X-fans, there's a storm cloud threatening to rain on the parade you've been having since Bryan Singer announced X-Men: Apocalypse, and its name is Hugh Jackman. Jackman owes his career jumpstart to Wolverine, the iconic mutant who he's portrayed in five X-Men films, (not counting his cameo in First Class), most recently in this summer's second spin-off devoted to his character, The Wolverine. He'll go for a sixth in next summer's hotly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past, but after that, the future is uncertain.
In addition to Apocalypse, a third Wolverine spin-off has been greenlit (with director James Mangold set to return), but Jackman's contract is officially up, and he recently told Vanity Fair that he's still deciding whether to renew. "I am really proud of [The Wolverine] and I am excited to develop something with Jim Mangold from the beginning because that is a great ride. That's exciting, to see what we come up with but I have a very high expectation of what it would need to be [for me to star in it] and if it doesn't reach those, I won't be doing it."
Jackman is one of very few actors to portray the same character for this many films, and he's also the only person to ever portray Wolverine on the big screen, period. The role is so heavily associated with him, that recasting seems almost out of the question. In the interview, Jackman only speaks on Wolverine 3, but one would have to assume if he didn't return for that he wouldn't for X-Men: Apocalypse either. Wolverine's absence from future group X-films is just as unimaginable as another actor baring the claws. There's only one solution here, 20th Century Fox: send a Brinks truck to the Jackman household immediately.
[via VF]
