X-Men: Chris Claremont Wanted Bob Hoskins To Play Wolverine

03/01/2017 05:38 pm EST

This weekend, theaters will be flooded with fans wanting to bid Hugh Jackman a fond farewell. The actor has no plans to exit acting, but the Australian star will be leaving his long-held role in the X-Men Cinematic Universe. Jackman will reprise his role of Wolverine one last time in Logan when it drops this weekend, and fans feel conflicted about the actor's exit. The burly X-Men has become synonymous with Jackman since the actor has played him for more than a decade. But, a long time ago, there was another star being eyed for the role by one iconic X-Men alum.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, comic book writer Chris Claremont confirmed he wanted Bob Hoskins to play Logan at first.

"When I was looking at the pairing of Ororo [X-Men's Storm] and Logan, to me it seemed perfectly rational to have Angela Bassett and Bob Hoskins, because the image I had of Hoskins was from the films he made in England where they emphasized, in terms of his character, the harshness, the Cockney, the brutality of him," Claremont said. "There was a film he did called Lassiter with Tom Selleck, and if you look at the two of them together, Tom Selleck is this 6-foot-plus powerful, handsome, glorious leading man and Hoskins is this little cop. In one scene, Selleck comes to the door of [Hoskin's] house and Hoskins takes one look at him and hauls off and shoves Selleck back down the drive, yelling "You come to my house?" and just repeating it over and over as he shoves Selleck back down the path and through the fence out onto the street. And the expression on Selleck's face is "Holy Shit!" and I thought, bingo. That is Logan. That instant rage."

However, the beloved writer said his mind was quickly changed once he was introduced to Jackman's X-Men audition. The writer's first impression of the star was a wary one as Claremont wasn't convinced that Jackman could pull of Wolverine's grit.

"You look at him and you think, too tall, too handsome, too this, too that," the writer said. But, as fans know, the star ultimately showed he had what it took to play the grumpy mutant.

"He walked out into the audition and just nailed it and they put him on a plane to Vancouver within 24 hours to start shooting X-Men," Claremont said about Jackman. "The rightness of that decision has been proved ever since."

Logan takes place in the year 2029, where mutant births have become extremely rare. The defenders of mutant kind, the X-Men, are long gone, and the only remains of them are an old and struggling Charles Xavier and a weary Logan. Logan's vaunted healing factor has slowed, and at times doesn't seem to work at all. When a young mutant needs his help, Logan has to unsheathe his claws once more. His job isn't over yet.

Logan stars Hugh Jackman (Logan), Boyd Holbrook (Donald Pierce), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier), Dafne Keen (Laura Kinney/X-23), Doris Morgado (Maria), Stephen Merchant (Caliban), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Gabriela), and Richard E. Grant (Dr. Zander Rice). James Mangold is directing and helped on the screenplay along with Scott Frank and Michael Green.

Logan hits theaters on March 3, 2017. Are you excited to see the movie? If so, let us know by giving it a rating with our Anticipation Rankings below! The movie is currently #3 on all of ComicBook!

MORE LOGAN: Does Logan Have An End Credits Scene / Logan Eyeing Massive $170 Million Box Office Opening / Logan Debuts "Final Battle" TV Spot

[HT] The Hollywood Reporter

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.