Taron Egerton has been talking with Kevin Feige and other Marvel Studio executives about taking on the role of Wolverine. The 32-year-old Welsh actor revealed the news in a recent interview with The New York Times, one that was prompted by his new starring role in Black Bird, a new Apple TV+ series written by Dennis Lehane that centers around Jimmy Keene, a convicted drug dealer who is “offered a deal to leave prison early if he can elicit a confession from another inmate.” Egerton’s interest in Marvel Studios surfaces at the very end of the piece, in which he confirms that he has met with Marvel’s president and hopes to succeed Hugh Jackman as the next Wolverine. Jackman is synonymous with the popular X-Men member, having played the character since the original 2000 movie that was written by David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake in many of the Metal Gear Solid games. Egerton is best known for playing Eggsy in the Kingsman movies.
“I don’t think it would be wrong to say that,” Egerton said. “I’d be excited but I’d be apprehensive as well, because Hugh is so associated with the role that I’d wonder if it’d be very difficult for someone else to do it. But hopefully if it does come around, they’ll give me a shot.”
The series, which debuts July 8, centers on Egerton as Jimmy Keene, who is offered a chance to commute his 10-year prison sentence with just one condition: He must convince Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) to tell him where he buried the body of at least one missing girl, and perhaps a dozen more.
Egerton needed more than range to shoot “Black Bird”; the series was also incredibly heavy. Lehane said that crafting a scene in Episode 5 had made him cry — the first time he had experienced that while writing a script. Hauser said he was so affected by his role as Hall that his life began spinning out of control. He eventually had to get sober.
Source: The New York Times (Alternate Link)