Fox Sets David James Kelly To Script Next ‘Wolverine’
By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday March 21, 2014 @ 5:33pm PDT

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has hired David James Kelly to script the next installment of The Wolverine, the X-Men franchise spinoff that James Mangold will direct with Hugh Jackman reprising his signature role. The studio is eyeing a March 3, 2017, release. Kelly also is next set to adapt the Dark Horse graphic novel Mind Mgmt for Scott Free Productions and the original pitch Sentinel for Appian Way and Fox. Kelly is repped by WME, LBI and Hansen, Jacobson.

Hugh Jackman '99.9 Percent’ Sure ‘Wolverine’ Sequel Will Be His Last ‘X-Men’ Movie
Movies | By Greg Gilman on April 30, 2014 @ 2:54 pm

Hugh Jackman has portrayed Wolverine in seven “X-Men” films, but he's “99.9 percent sure” the sequel to “The Wolverine” will be the last time he pops the Marvel mutant's claws.

“I still am very ambitious for the character. And tonally I feel like we corrected the ship with the last one. But I feel we can still go further, in a way,” Jackman told SFX Magazine. “If I did another one I'm 99.9% sure it would be the last, so that will inform what it is for me.”

If the sequel even happens, that is.

While Jackman is not shy about working with director James Mangold to develop a sequel to last summer's blockbuster, which sent the practically immortal superhero to Japan, the actor emphasized “we're still working it out.”

“I'm excited to see what we can come up with, but I haven't signed on signed on,” Jackson said. “I'm genuinely at that point where unless it's better than the last one I'm not going to do it.”

20th Century Fox announced in November that Mangold was coming back to write the treatment, but no plot details were revealed. Based on Jackman's answers in this interview, it doesn't sound like many have been decided yet.

“I'd probably move it to a different visual palette,” Jackman said. “We are looking at a lot of different storylines. No one has jumped out. You can tell from my answer that we're still working it out.”

“The Wolverine” grossed over $414.8 million worldwide last year, so a sequel seems inevitable. But Bryan Singer's “X-Men: Apocalypse” is already lined up for a May, 2016 release date. How much more “X-Men” can Jackman commit to? Apparently, not much.

“If the script is as good? Hm. I don't know if that will get me across the line, man,” Jackman said. “I think it has to be better.”

ne of the big questions many "X-Men" fans have had is how much longer will Hugh Jackman play his most iconic role - that of Wolverine.

Jackman was 31 when he filmed the first "X-Men," but as he turns 47 this year the question of how long he can physically sustain the role's demands are understandably being asked. Jackman himself indicated last year he may hang up the claws soon.

This month though, it sounds like the actor has changed his mind. Jackman tells Cigar Aficionado (via E! Online) that watching Oscar favorite "Birdman" had an impact on him and now he'll stick with the role until he can physically no longer do it anymore:

"I said to my wife, 'The moral is that I should never stop playing Wolverine. I've got to find a way to keep playing him until I die.' I know that someday they'll recast the role with another actor…I'd be happy if the role was eventually recast. It would mean that it had become iconic."

Don't expect Wolverine to tone down his muscles either, Jackman says he still plans to push himself more and more each time:

"I always want to be in better shape than I was for the last one. I don't believe in stagnation. People say they try to maintain the status quo. But I believe the natural cycle means you're either advancing and getting closer to something or you're receding…Every time I play Wolverine I want to go further, physically and emotionally."

There's still no word if Jackman will reprise the role in "X-Men: Apocalypse," but he is slated to come back for a third standalone "Wolverine" film which is targeting a March 2017 release.