Hugh Jackman Still Having Doubts About Wolverine Return

Hugh Jackman is once again questioning whether he wants to play Wolverine for another sequel.

X-Men: Days of Future Past will mark Jackman’s seventh appearance as Wolverine. The Aussie actor played the character in the original X-Men trilogy, which began in 2000, and made an uncredited cameo in the 2011 prequel, X-Men: First Class. He has also played the character in two solo films, 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and this year’s The Wolverine.

In November, Deadline reported that The Wolverine director James Mangold had begun negotiations with 20th Century Fox for a third solo film, with Jackman to reprise the role. But in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the 45-year-old Golden Globe winner said he was unsure if he would be returning for the upcoming sequel.

“I don’t know whether or not I will do this next movie. I am really proud of this movie and I am excited to develop something with Jim Mangold from the beginning because that is a great ride,” he said. “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 said there isn’t a script or writer for the new film yet “so it’s a way off.” He also joked that Mangold had him record his dialogue in the morning because he was “naturally grumpier” at that time. Jackman said he is enjoying playing Wolverine more than ever, but he knows his days are numbered.

In September, Hugh Jackman said X-Men: Days of Future Past could be his last outing as Wolverine.

“It may be the last,” he told MTV. “By the way, it didn’t hit me until three weeks before the end [of shooting X-Men: Days of Future Past], because we promoted The Wolverine and I came back on set with three weeks to go, and that’s when I went, ‘Well, who knows? Maybe there’s no more Wolverine. Maybe this is it. Who knows? Maybe.'”

X-Men: Days of Future Past is scheduled for a May 23, 2014 release. Based on the Uncanny X-Men storyline of the same name, the film will also star James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, and Peter Dinklage.