It seems strange to think about someone else taking on Wolverine's adamantium claws, but that's something we'll have to get used to sooner than we think. Just over a month ago Hugh Jackman confirmed that the upcoming sequel to THE WOLVERINE would be his last outing before hanging up Wolverine's claws for good. By the time THE WOLVERINE sequel drops Jackman will have played the character for seventeen years, that's a long time to play any character so it was quite understandable when Jackman announced that he was done.
However it looks as though there was another person who influenced Hugh Jackman's decision and that person was…Jerry Seinfeld. During an interview on Live with Kelly and Michael, Hugh Jackman explained that the comedian was indirectly responsible for the actor's choice to leave the character behind:
I was having a chat with [Seinfeld] about a year ago, at his birthday, and he was talking about why he finished [the NBC Seinfeld show], he said, he'd always had this feeling and belief that you never know when either your energy or the audience's energy is going to dip over into people [saying] 'Oh, please go.' He said you should finish on a high, I've been doing it for seventeen years, I love it, I think the movie's are getting better, and all of a sudden, as he was talking, I went 'this is it.'
Gather up your torches and pitchforks folks, time to head to Jerry Seinfeld's house. Joking aside, as much as I love Hugh Jackman in that role, going out on a high is something I think we can all get on board with. Regarding THE WOLVERINE sequel being his last, Jackman says that he knows in his gut that it's the right thing to do but also quipped that he hopes he doesn't come back in five years wondering "why did I do that?"
The sequel to THE WOLVERINE is set for a March 3, 2017 release.