Paging Dr. Zander Rice? A new black-and-white photo for Logan has clawed its way online today only this time, rather than establishing the grim world of James Mangold’s threequel, the image in question casts but a glimmer of light on Richard E. Grant’s mystery character.
Though there are no official details to peruse just yet, Grant is purportedly attached to the part of Dr. Zander Rice, a long-time nemesis of Wolverine and “the mad scientist behind Transigen,” a government-backed operation out to round up the remaining mutants of the world and transform them into disposable weapons. Could that be the case? Hugh Jackman’s Tweet was captioned ‘Rice’, after all, which leads us to believe that those early rumors were bang on point.
What’s more, the character of Zander Rice has ties to both the Weapon X program and the creation of X-23, the fierce young mutant to be played by the up-and-coming Dafne Keen. It would certainly dovetail with the rumored plot of Logan, while also ruling out any remaining chance that the all-powerful Mister Sinister would be making an appearance in James Mangold’s R-rated actioner.
Perhaps the supervillain will be reserved for a future X-Men movie? Time will tell. What we do know though is that Jackman, Keen and Grant will be flanked by Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal and Elizabeth Rodriguez in a few months’ time.
Come 2017, Logan will herald the final appearance of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. March 3 is the date for your diaries.