20th Century Fox have a difficult decision ahead of them regarding what to do with their X-Men movie universe. While the franchise as a whole is in rude health right now, thanks to the many off-shoots and spinoffs in the works, the series has lost its biggest star in Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. The actor bowed out of the iconic role in this year’s Logan, meaning that the universe is currently without a version of the X-Men’s most famous character. The man himself, though, has an idea about who should take over from him: his young co-star, Dafne Keen.
In an interview with Collider, Jackman got to talking about where the Wolverine character could go next. He believes that the role should be opened up to “any color, any race, anything,” but thinks the eleven-year-old Keen would “frickin’ nail it.”
Here’s what he had to say:
“I think one thing we’ve learned: when X-Men started, it was pretty revolutionary. Like the comic book itself, I think there was an element of breaking conventions, of opening up in the concentration camp with a character, was not what people expected. I think X-Men has always been about asking questions, challenging norms and asking what’s going on. I’m not saying we’ve done that always, but I definitely think the spirit of Logan is in a way a reboot of that desire to keep taking risks and to ask more difficult questions, and to go deeper within the characters. In an irreverent way, it’s exactly what Deadpool did too.
I think it’s endemic to the character. I think for me, it would make sense to go younger with Logan. I think it would be very difficult – however, there’s a female 11-year-old who could absolutely frickin’ nail it, for my money. [Keen is] so good. I was 30 when I got the part, so I think it would be wide open to interpretation. I think it could be anything. You could go any color, any race, anything. If you look at all the drawings and all the different interpretations from different artists over the years, I think it’s completely open. I think audiences will buy it.”
Jackman is far from the only one who would like to see more of Keen in the role of Laura, Wolverine’s female clone/daughter. Fans have been calling for an X-23 spinoff ever since Logan came out – and we have to agree with them. Seeing Laura grow into her father’s mantle across several movies would be awesome to watch, and much better than another actor being asked to step into Jackman’s massive shoes. Fox, the ball’s in your court now…
Logan is now available to buy on Blu-Ray and DVD, and there’s still time to enter into our competition to win a copy.
CONTEST: Re-Tweet this and follow us to win #Logan on Blu-ray! Contest closes 5/27. Winner notified via DM. Good luck! pic.twitter.com/z7iWM3vjkW
— We Got This Covered (@wgtc_site) May 2, 2017