By: Eric Eisenberg

When it was first revealed that Hugh Jackman was in talks for a small role as Wolverine in Bryan Singer‘s X-Men: Days of Future Past it looked like a no-brainer. After all, Jackman has played the same live-action superhero in more films than any other single actor (showing his commitment to the role) and it would give him a chance to reunite with the same director that got him the gig in the first place. But only now, after three weeks of waiting, has the actor finally been confirmed for a role in the upcoming sequel.

Much like how he revealed that both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would be back in Days of Future Past as well, Singer took to his Twitter accountthis evening to reveal that Jackman is officially on-board for the First Classfollow-up. Wrote the filmmaker, “I would officially like to welcome @RealHughJackman to the cast of #Xmen Days of Future Past. Very excited! More to come…” The actor joins a cast that, in addition to Stewart and McKellen, will also have James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult reprise their roles as Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast, respectively. Production is scheduled to begin early next year based on a screenplay by Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn.

Based on the famed comic book arc, Days of Future Past takes us to a future in the X-Men universe where giant robots called Sentinels roam the country searching and killing all mutants. In order to try and stop the timeline from ever coming to pass, a mutant travels back in time to try and stop the cataclysmic event that led to the use of Sentinels being activated and utilized. Previous reports have said that the production is also looking to bring back Halle Berry and James Marsden – who played Storm and Cyclops in the original trilogy – to join Stewart, McKellen, and Jackman, but neither has been officially added to the cast. Should they sign on, their roles would be small, only being featured in the Sentinel-plagued future wasteland.

X-Men: Days of Future Past will be in theaters July 18, 2014 and you can read more about it in our Blend Film Database. Jackman will next play the clawed Canadian in James Mangold‘s The Wolverine, which will be out July 26, 2013.

Source: Cinema Blend