Hugh Jackman Says He’ll Keep Playing Wolverine Until Age 90—No Handover Yet

X-Men icon Hugh Jackman says he’s not planning to hang up the claws anytime soon, even as Marvel pushes ahead with a full X-Men relaunch for the next era of the MCU.

Key takeaways

• Jackman indicated he expects to keep playing Wolverine until age 90.
• His comments build on a joke from Deadpool & Wolverine about leaving a “time capsule” for whoever follows.
• Fans still anticipate Jackman returning as Wolverine for Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars, and any future Deadpool films.
• Jackman previously said he was finished after Logan (2017), before returning with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool.
• Asked about possible successors, he suggested a new actor should be allowed to do their own thing.

Jackman’s Wolverine timeline, and the “time capsule” joke

Speaking with PBS, Jackman put a number on his plans: “I’m 57. I’m doing it till I’m 90. So, you know… I’ll do a little time capsule for them.” The idea matches the playful suggestion made in Deadpool & Wolverine, where the film riffed on the notion that Jackman’s Wolverine would keep going for a long time and would leave something behind for the next person to take over the role.

Even without an official commitment to when he’ll return (or which projects he’ll appear in), audiences largely expect Jackman will reprise Wolverine in the upcoming Avengers movies—Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars—and also in any additional Deadpool chapter that follows. His return seems especially plausible given how directly Deadpool & Wolverine positioned the characters moving forward.

Jackman had famously implied he was done playing Wolverine after Logan in 2017, only to reverse course later. He returned to the role in the company of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, and Deadpool & Wolverine went on to gross more than $1 billion for Marvel. Reynolds has already discussed having concepts for a team-up-style follow-up, which naturally keeps Wolverine’s spot in the larger conversation alive as well.

What this could mean for the MCU’s X-Men reboot

With Marvel reportedly moving toward a complete X-Men reboot, speculation has turned to whether a new Wolverine would be introduced sooner rather than later—especially as the first new X-Men figure could arrive early in the MCU’s next saga. For now, though, Jackman’s latest remarks don’t suggest a handoff is imminent.

That raises a practical question: where does the reboot leave Wolverine if Jackman is still actively playing the character in the MCU? One possibility is that the reboot may avoid using Wolverine at all, at least initially, to prevent two versions of the hero from coexisting in MCU continuity at the same time.

Eventually, though, Jackman will have to pass the Wolverine baton. When asked what advice he might offer to whoever takes over the role, the Australian actor said a successor would likely need to “meld in” with what he’s already done, but he also expressed hope the next performer will be given room to take the character in their own direction: he wants them to be able to do “whatever the f*** they want.”

Jackman elaborated on his expectations for a future actor: “I’m not going to say anything to whoever plays him,” he said, explaining that no one had informed him about what to do either—adding that he was genuinely excited about the process. He also noted that he hadn’t read the comics before stepping into the role, so he approached it fresh and “learned a lot over the years.”

He continued: “Of course I’ve got my own take, but it must be melding in with me in some way. I hope someone just comes in and does whatever the f*** they want and makes it their own.”