Thanks to his healing factor, Wolverine is near-immortal. The actor who portrays him is not. But that isn't going to stop Hugh Jackman from playing Wolverine for as long as humanly possible.
The actor said as much during an interview with the magazine Cigar Aficionado (via E! Online), saying he told his wife he was inspired to play Marvel's mutant until he dies, after watching Michael Keaton's Best-Picture winning Birdman.
"I said to my wife, ‘The moral is that I should never stop playing Wolverine. I've got to find a way to keep playing him until I die,'" Jackman says. "I know that someday they'll recast the role with another actor...I'd be happy if the role was eventually recast. It would mean that it had become iconic."
Jackman would go on to say he is always trying to improve the character, and make the latest appearance of Wolverine the best. He could last be seen as Wolverine in last year's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
"I always want to be in better shape than I was for the last one," he says. "I don't believe in stagnation. People say they try to maintain the status quo. But I believe the natural cycle means you're either advancing and getting closer to something or you're receding...Every time I play Wolverine I want to go further, physically and emotionally."
It's still up in the air when Jackman will once again don the adamantium claws of Wolverine. Jackman says progress is moving forward on another Wolverine stand-alone film. It hasn't been 100% confirmed that Wolverine will appear in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, but it's likely.
Still, there will come a point where Jackman is still alive but simply too old to continue playing Wolverine. The decision isn't the actor's alone, after all. Studio executives and directors will ultimately be making the call as to whether or not Jackman can continue to play Wolverine as the years roll on. Considering the shape Jackman is in, that moment likely won't come for a good long while, but time slows for no man. Even Hugh Jackman.
Jackman can next be seen in Neil Blomkamp's sci-fi film Chappie, in theaters March 6.
