Hugh Jackman: I’ll Play Wolverine Until I’m 90

Hugh Jackman has no plans to hang up the adamantium claws — not for a while, anyway. Speaking to PBS, the 57-year-old actor pointed back to the running joke from Deadpool & Wolverine that he’ll keep playing the character until he’s 90, and said he’d leave a “little time capsule” for whoever eventually inherits the role. For Marvel fans wondering whether an MCU X-Men reboot means a new Logan, the short version is: not yet.

Jackman put it plainly: “I’m 57. I’m doing it till I’m 90. So, you know… I’ll do a little time capsule for them.” It’s a joke, obviously — nobody’s committing to a 33-year superhero contract — but the subtext is real. He’s not walking away.

What Jackman actually said about his future

Jackman hasn’t officially confirmed any new Wolverine appearance, but his comments suggest he’s in no rush to pass the baton. Marvel is moving forward on a full X-Men reboot, and speculation has pointed to a fresh mutant hero turning up sooner rather than later — which naturally raised the question of a recast Logan.

For now, that doesn’t sound like the plan. The “till I’m 90” line came directly in response to how long he intends to keep going, and the “time capsule” framing implies a handover that’s somewhere down the road, not imminent.

We’ve heard the retirement talk before

Here’s the thing: Jackman already told us he was done. After 2017’s Logan — a genuinely great send-off, the kind of ending most franchises would kill for — he made it clear that was it. Then he walked it right back to suit up alongside Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool.

And it paid off. Deadpool & Wolverine pulled in over $1 billion for Marvel, which is exactly the sort of number that makes “I’m retired” a negotiable position. So when Jackman jokes about playing Logan into his 90s, the industry has learned to take the joke semi-seriously.

Where Wolverine fits in the MCU roadmap

Fans widely expect Jackman to return as Wolverine in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars — though neither appearance is officially confirmed. Secret Wars is set for December 2027, with the X-Men reboot slated to arrive early in the next MCU saga that follows it.

That creates an obvious continuity puzzle. If the reboot introduces a new Wolverine while Jackman’s Logan is still floating around the multiverse, Marvel ends up with two clawed mutants at once. One tidy solution: the reboot simply skips Wolverine at first to avoid the overlap. Reynolds, meanwhile, has talked up ideas for a team-based follow-up to Deadpool & Wolverine, which would almost keep Logan in the mix too.

What Jackman told any future Wolverine

Asked whether he had advice for whoever plays Wolverine next, Jackman’s answer was refreshingly hands-off. He said he wouldn’t say anything at all — because nobody guided him when he started, and he’s grateful for it.

The lead-in matters here, so his full thought is worth reading:

I’m not going to say anything to whoever plays him, ’cause no one said anything to me, which I’m thrilled about. And I had not read the comics, so I was just coming to it fresh. And I learned a lot over the years.

Hugh Jackman, Actor

He acknowledged his own version will inevitably shape the character, but wants the next actor to break free of it: “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.”

It’s a decent philosophy — and one plenty of long-running franchises could stand to hear. Jackman isn’t the only genre veteran refusing to think about retirement on cue; his fellow X-Men alum Ian McKellen has taken a similar stance. For UAE Marvel fans, the takeaway is simple: whenever Doomsday and Secret Wars land in cinemas, don’t be surprised if Logan’s still standing there, cigar in hand.