Ryan Reynolds reveals he did not think he would play Deadpool again, and says one of the pitches was “just a talkie-talkie road trip”

Ryan Reynolds, who is set to slip into the Deadpool suit for the third time in Deadpool & Wolverine, revealed in a recent interview that he never thought he'd get another chance to play the anti-hero following the union between Disney and Fox.

The actor joined his co-star Hugh Jackman for an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on July 2, 2024, ahead of the movie's release on July 26. Reynolds added that he was apprehensive about how a character like Deadpool would fit into the MCU and was ready to lay down the costume for good. He 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].”

But after Deadpool's integration into the MCU was greenlit, Ryan Reynolds started brainstorming concepts for the third installment of the franchise that kickstarted in 2016. Several ideas were formulated, and one such idea was "a Rashomon story" told from three different points of view.

Another idea Ryan Reynolds liked was a low-budget "talkie-talkie road trip” concept with just him and Dopinder, played by Karan Soni. Reynolds elaborated:

“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."

He further added:

"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,”

Ultimately, the idea that won was the highly-anticipated team-up between Deadpool and Wolverine, with Hugh Jackman reprising the X-Men character for the first time since his 2017 flick, Logan.

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Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman previously worked in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Before starring in his own franchise, Ryan Reynolds appeared as Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, in the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he faced off against Hugh Jackman's adamantium-clawed persona.

The movie performed poorly at the box office and faced immense criticism. Deadpool 2's post-credits scene even showed the mercenary going back in time to kill that version of Wilson from X-Men Origins. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ryan Reynolds reminisced about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, saying:

"There's a lot of misfires that have nothing to do with the core creative team, that are more studio mandates. I actually think there's a lot of good things."

While the X-Men series was considered a stand-alone and not a part of the MCU, that changed when Patrick Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier appeared in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. Since then, mutants have slowly been taken into the fold within the MCU.

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Hugh Jackman on why he decided to reprise his role as Wolverine

While Ryan Reynolds expressed his apprehension about not being able to reprise his role after the merger, Hugh Jackman also voiced his regret at retiring the Wolverine title after watching Deadpool 2. During the interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said:

"From the moment I saw Deadpool 2… I had literally announced maybe a couple of weeks before that Logan was going to be my last, and I remember watching it and I'm 15 minutes in going, 'F**k!' I could feel it."

Jackman was the first to suggest that Shawn Levy team up with Reynolds, leading to them working on Free Guy and The Adam Project. Ryan Reynolds then pitched the idea of Deadpool 3, to director Shawn Levy while the two were working on The Adam Project. Levy had also previously worked with Jackman on Real Steel.

According to the movie synopsis, Deadpool and Wolverine will take place 6 years after Deadpool 2, which came out in 2018. Wade Wilson has long since abandoned his anti-hero persona and is working as a used car salesman when Mr. Paradox, played by Matthew Macfadyen of Succession fame, reaches out for help.

The movie will see Wilson cross paths with Wolverine of an alternate reality, still played by Jackman but unrelated to his X-Men franchise version. Deadpool and Wolverine will be the first MCU movie to have an R-rating and is scheduled for release on July 26, 2024.