Will Hugh Jackman return as Wolverine in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'?

Hugh Jackman portrayed Wolverine in the first three 'X-Men' films as well as one spin-off and will already reprise the role in another 2013 spin-off.

The pieces are falling into place, forming what may eventually become an all-out reunion for Bryan Singer and the casts of both the X-Men trilogy and its prequel, X-Men: First Class. We’ve known the potential of returning appearances of familiar characters since Singer confirmed the film’s title, X-Men: Days of Future Past, based on the title of the famous time-travel story arc from Marvel Comics, but it wasn’t until yesterday did we learn it’s actually happening.

Bryan Singer – taking over the director’s seat from Matthew Vaughn who may or may not be directing Star Wars Episode 7 – happily confirmed that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will be back for the next X-Men team-up and as we suspected, they will likely be joined by franchise star Hugh Jackman.

According to THR, Jackman is currently in negotiations with Fox to return for what will be his sixth portrayal of the adamantium-laced feral mutant (the seventh being a cameo in X-Men: First Class). This would further solidify his status as the actor who holds the record for playing the same superhero character in the most films.

Jackman loves playing Wolverine and previously went on record saying he’s not in it for the money. He’s even producing The Wolverine, which tells the tale of Logan’s travels to Japan – a story that Jackman wanted to be a part of ever since he joined X-Men. Three years ago, when X-Men Origins: Wolverine debuted, he jokingly said he’d play the character “eleven more” times.

“I always say, ‘oh, I’m never doing another one,’ until I see the script. It has to be something. But in the superhero world, those kind of movies, ‘Wolverine’ is by far the most interesting… So I’ll do eleven more and that’s it!”

Of course, it was easy then for me to say yesterday, after the Stewart and McKellen casting announcements, that Jackman would sign up as well. And he will.

This raises two interesting questions:

1. With headliners from the X-Men trilogy coming aboard, will that make it easier to bring back the others? Do they want to for this story?
2. How will this affect The Wolverine?

You can count on Twentieth Century Fox and Mark Millar – their newly hired creative consultant on their Marvel movies – to find a way to work something into The Wolverine to bridge the gap between it and what’s coming up next. There’s absolutely no way they wouldn’t take advantage of this opportunity. Singer and Fox have big ambitions, and The Wolverine - which interestingly takes place after the trilogy – is step one of their plans, no matter how standalone Jackman and director James Mangold aim for it to be. Perhaps this lends more credence to the rumors that Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) will cameo in The Wolverine and that she’ll return for Days of Future Past.

Bryan Singer will direct X-Men: Days of Future Past with returning stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, who could be joined by the return of Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore. Stay tuned!

Rob Keyes blogs at Screen Rant.