Though the mere thought of recasting Wolverine was written off as sacrilegious back in March when Logan sunk its claws into the global box office, now that the dust has settled from Hugh Jackman’s swan song, X-Men fans are beginning to wonder what the future holds for the ferocious Weapon X.
One thing’s for sure: true to his initial promise, Hugh Jackman has closed the book on his own personal X-Men saga, and you can’t say the Aussie actor didn’t go out on a high note. As a matter of fact, 20th Century Fox is said to be mounting a sizeable Oscar push for Logan, which would place James Mangold’s noir in the company of 2017’s other superhero success story, Wonder Woman.
Exactly how much traction those campaigns will get is subject to debate, but Logan‘s Oscar credentials were raised in Variety’s exhaustive interview with Stacey Snider, CEO of 20th Century Fox. In her eyes, Mangold’s climatic tear-jerker absolutely deserves to be a part of 2017-18 Oscar campaign for the ways in which it “combines classic storytelling with superhero lore.”
When it comes to Wolverine’s future, though, Snider remained coy, merely hinting that “anything’s possible” now that Hugh Jackman has officially vacated the franchise.
By that logic, surely the prospect of an X-23 spinoff has been floated at 20th Century Fox, given how Dafne Keen’s pint-sized mutant resonated with film fans earlier in the year. Couple this with the fact that Mangold has previously expressed an interest in building a standalone X-Men movie around the young Laura and there’s a very good chance we’ll be seeing Keen back on our screens sooner rather than later.
But if and when 20th Century Fox decides to continue with Wolverine, who would you like to see replace Hugh Jackman in the title role? You can, as always, leave your thoughts, comments and predictions via the usual spot.