Deadpool 3 Director Reveals How Actors' Strike Shutdown Helped Movie

Deadpool 3 is poised to be a massive part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's future, with the film being the only blockbuster installment Marvel Studios is releasing in all of 2024. Production on the threequel was stalled for several months earlier this year due to the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA Hollywood strikes, before things started back up last month. According to Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy, that hiatus might have actually worked in the movie's favor, as it allowed him and franchise star Ryan Reynolds "time to get to know and think about" the story.

"We're happily back at work, and now that we know it's coming out next summer, we are working our asses off to make the best movie possible, and it's feeling good," Levy explained, before adding, "It does feel like we're back at it freshly and more deeply informed about what this movie wants to be."

Who Is in the Cast of Deadpool 3?

Deadpool 3 will star Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, and Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen in currently-unknown roles. Jennifer Garner will be reprising her role as Elektra.

"I think you're giving me too much credit," Reynolds explained in a previous interview with Collider. "I don't believe that I'm responsible for Hugh coming back. I always wanted Hugh to come back. My first meeting with Kevin Feige when Disney bought Fox years ago, maybe three years ago, or three and a half, four years ago, I'm not sure, was about doing a movie with the two of us, a Deadpool Wolverine movie. And that was not possible at the time. And then Hugh just happened to call at that perfect moment and express that he'd be interested in coming back and doing this one more time. And the contents of that conversation, I'll let Hugh, because I know it's only inevitable that you and Hugh are going to speak at some point soon, I'm sure. I'll let Hugh answer that on his own. But he expressed interest in coming back, and then it was my job to take that to Kevin Feige one more time and sell it."

Why Was Deadpool 3 Delayed?

As Levy explained in an interview earlier this fall, Deadpool 3 was halfway through production prior to the strike's work stoppage. Amid the strikes, Marvel Studios also paused production or pre-production on their upcoming films Thunderbolts and Blade, as well as their upcoming Wonder Man Disney+ series.

"Well, like the rest of our industry, or at least large swaths of it, we are paused. We were halfway through filming Deadpool, co-starring Wolverine. It was a joy every day, and that chemistry is, I have to say, spoiler alert, it is as relentlessly awesome as we had all hoped it would be," Levy revealed. "But we are halfway through filming, we shut down, our crew and the rest of us are awaiting a fair and equitable deal that ends these strikes and puts our industry and certainly inclusive of our movie back at work." 

Deadpool 3 is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on July 26, 2024.

h/t: Deadline