Hugh Jackman may not do next Wolverine movie

The X-Men movie franchise is in a very interesting place right now. The blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past comes out in a few months and news broke last week that a potentially bigger follow-up, X-Men: Apocalypse, will come out in 2016. Simon Kinberg, a screenwriter who has worked on several of the X-Men films, has signed a three-year deal with Fox to develop a movie universe similar to what Marvel is doing. But is some or all of this going to happen without Hugh Jackman?

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Jackman revealed that he may not be a part of the next Wolverine sequel:

"I don't know whether or not I will do this next movie. I am really proud of this movie and I am excited to develop something with Jim Mangold from the beginning because that is a great ride. That's exciting, to see what we come up with but I have a very high expectation of what it would need to be [for me to star in it] and if it doesn't reach those, I won't be doing it."

Jackman has played Wolverine in seven movies and has become synonymous with the character and the X-Men franchise as a whole. If Fox lost him, then the studio would likely have to recast the lead character just as the franchise reaches a crucial point in its existence.

Vanity Fair also asked Jackman if there is a sequel for the script and he replied, "No, there is not but Jim Mangold and I were literally on the phone last night talking about ideas, but there is no script and no writer yet so it's a way off."