Ryan Reynolds Reveals Why He Didn’t Think He Would Play Deadpool Again

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are poised to make cinematic history with their upcoming film Deadpool & Wolverine. Initially teaming up in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, fans eagerly anticipate their reunion. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reynolds revealed his initial doubts about reprising his role following Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019, which marked the end of the X-Men Movie Universe. Reynolds had envisioned a Deadpool movie rich in dark humour, explicit language, sexual references, and violence. However, with Disney and Marvel’s emphasis on family-friendly content, Reynolds feared his portrayal of the Merc with a Mouth might be over.

The actor said, “I didn’t know if I’d ever be playing Deadpool again. It’s not something I would’ve said necessarily publicly, but I didn’t know how a character like that would fit into that world of the MCU.”

Despite not being sure about the future, Ryan Reynolds had given several ideas to Marvel boss Kevin Feige about a third Deadpool movie with Wolverine. Reynolds mentioned that when he discussed the idea, the timing wasn’t right for those plans to happen. Feige further mentioned that the acquisition and legal issues made it complicated. During the time, he didn’t fully understand the law but claimed it took a long time to finalise. As a result, the characters weren’t immediately available for Marvel to use in their projects.

Years after the acquisition was completed, both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman dropped hints about their collaboration. Finally, in 2022, Ryan Reynolds officially confirmed the long-awaited Marvel movie with the Logan star.

Before the official script for Deadpool 3 was finalised, Reynolds had several creative ideas, including the story from three different perspectives. Another unique idea was to shoot the film like an indie movie. He explained, “Literally, it was a $5 or $6 million budget with no special effects. It was just a talkie-talkie road trip with me and Dopinder and some of the things we collected and saw along the way. It wasn’t meant to be an event movie. If we’re on our way to Point C, it was meant to just get us to Point B. That was the weirdest one. I liked it. I thought it was kind of fun.”

Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapicic, Brianna Hildebrand, Rob Delaney, Lewis Tan, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, Tyler Mane, Jason Flemyng and Ray Park. The movie is scheduled to release on July 26.