Hugh Jackman famously signed off as the big-screen Wolverine after starring in Logan in 2017. However, this didn’t stop writer and director Simon Kinberg from thinking about including the character in Dark Phoenix. Surprisingly, his reasons for deciding against this have nothing to do with Jackman’s retirement.
During an interview with Rolling Stone, Kinberg admitted that he would have loved to explore Logan and Jean Grey’s romantic attraction as it was depicted in the original Dark Phoenix Saga. But because some of the characters look so young, viewers probably would have found this off-putting.
“If you know the Dark Phoenix story, you’d want to really service the love story between Logan and Jean,” said Kinberg. “And I think the notion of Hugh Jackman, as great as he looks for his age, and Sophie Turner — it didn’t sit well with me. Or anyone else!”
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The love triangle between Jean, Scott Summers, and Logan has always been an amusing part of the X-Men story. However, it would be a little weird to see the 50-year-old Jackman compete with Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops for the affections of the now 23-year-old Sophie Turner. Additionally, fans have often complained that Wolverine’s appearances have unfairly hogged the spotlight from Scott, the X-Men’s true leader.
Kinberg went on to explain that he didn’t want to distract from Jean’s character arc either.
“There was an element of this being Jean’s story,” continued Kinberg. “And I was committing so fully to it that I didn’t want to run the risk of pulling away from Jean by going to the well of a fan-favorite character in these movies. I wanted this to be a very different experience of seeing an X-Men movie.”
Would you have liked to see Hugh Jackman reprise his iconic role one last time in Dark Phoenix? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
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