Exclusive: Hugh Jackman In Talks For Villain In Logan’s Run Remake
We've exclusively learned Hugh Jackman is in negotiations to play the bad guy of Gore Verbinski's upcoming Logan's Run remake.
If you’re going to hunt down Logan in Logan’s Run, it makes sense to hire Logan, right? Someone clearly thinks so because, as we’ve learned from our trusted and proven sources, Hugh Jackman is currently in talks to star as a villain in the upcoming Logan’s Run remake. We previously reported that Gore Verbinkski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) has been tapped to direct the feature.
We don’t know the precise role Hugh Jackman is in talks for, but — depending on how closely Verbinski’s remake follows the 1976 original — it seems likely he would play Francis 7. The late Richard Jordan (The Hunt for Red October) is Francis 7 in the original — a Sandman whose job is to hunt and execute Runners like the titular hero. As for who will fill Michael York’s shoes for the title role, there is no word just yet.
It would be fitting to see Hugh Jackman cast as a bad guy in the Logan’s Run remake, and not just because of the nice symmetry of the name “Logan.” Including Wolverine, Jackman is known mostly for playing heroic leads, but one of the few prominent bad guys he’s gotten to play was Vincent Moore in 2015’s Chappie. Directed by Neil Blomkamp (District 9) Chappie is, like Logan’s Run, a dystopian sci-fi film.
Hugh Jackman told Collider in 2015 he was thrilled to finally get to play villains in Chappie, as well as Blackbeard in that year’s Pan, and we’re guessing he’ll feel similarly if he ends up signing on for Logan’s Run.
Logan’s Run is perhaps not as popular as Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, or other record-breaking intellectual properties that Warner Bros. Discovery is desperate to milk under David Zaslav’s direction, but it’s a cult classic that did a lot to pave the way for dystopian sci-fi storytelling on the screen. It’s practically impossible to be taken seriously in a discussion of films like The Hunger Games or The Matrix without mention of Logan’s Run.
The story Hugh Jackman could soon be joining starts with William F. Nolan’s 1967 novel Logan’s Run which was adapted to the big screen in 1976. The film finds what’s left of humanity living under domes and taking their directions from an overseeing computer. Everyone beneath the domes is sacrificed at the age of 30, and anyone who tries to flee before their “Last Day” is labeled a Runner.
Runners are pursued by the lethal police force of Sandmen, and both Logan 5 and Francis 7 — the role we believed Hugh Jackman is in talks for — are Sandmen when the film begins. Logan and Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter) eventually become runners, with Francis pursuing them.
Once we know more about the Logan’s Run remake, including whether or not Hugh Jackman signs on, we’ll make sure you know.
