Social media has become the best place to get an early peek at Logan, director James Mangold’s upcoming follow-up to 2013’s The Wolverine, which is expected to be the final bow for Hugh Jackman as the clawed mutant. That trend continued this week with a series of photos from the set of the film, including Wednesday’s first look at Hugh Jackman as a much older version of the film’s title character.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Logan is set in the year 2024 and will feature a version of Wolverine who’s well past his prime and facing the ravages of a mutant healing factor that doesn’t work as well as it once did — and the new photo of Jackman in character certainly doesn’t do anything to contradict that information.
The photo was posted by Mangold on Twitter, where the filmmaker has been posting various images from the set of the film.
Taken w/ Leica SL, Noctilux 50mm, ISO 1600 1/1000 ƒ1.7 — by JM pic.twitter.com/Rz4MUyctqq
— Mangold (@mang0ld) October 19, 2016
Directed by Mangold from a script by David James Kelly (Straw Man) and Michael Green (Green Lantern), Logan features Jackman once again as the mutant Wolverine, and also brings back Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. Narcos actor Boyd Holbrook will also play a featured role in the film, possibly as recurring X-Men foe Donald Pierce, the leader of an anti-mutant group known as The Reavers.
Little is certain about the plot of Logan at this point, but the powerful mutant known as Mr. Sinister is also expected to play a major role in the film, along with his mysterious organization Essex Corp., which was featured in a post-credits scene in X-Men: Apocalypse. The focus of the first promotional image for the film — featuring Wolverine holding a child’s hand — has also led to speculation that the film could feature the debut of X-23, the young girl cloned from Wolverine in the Marvel comics.
Logan is scheduled to hit theaters March 3, 2017.