Following her show-stealing turn in Logan, there’s been a lot of talk about a potential spinoff movie centred on Dafne Keen’s young Wolverine clone Laura, a.k.a. X-23, and according to James Mangold, the success of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman movie may have opened the door for it to become a reality.
“Patty’s success with that film only solidifies more for studios that there’s less to fear with a female protagonist,” said Mangold in an interview with THR. “The more that keeps getting hit home, that ends up giving me more space turning around and going, ‘Well, here we are with a female protagonist. That’s incredible. And what are we going to do with her?’ And that’s where we are with that [the Laura script] right now, dreaming.”
In the same interview, Hugh Jackman ruled out the possibility of serving as a producer on the potential spinoff, but did express his excitement at seeing X-23 taking centre stage in her own movie: “No, I won’t be a producer on a Laura sequel. But I will be lining up on the Thursday night at 10 p.m. to watch it though. She is just phenomenal.”
Given the success of both Deadpool and Logan, Fox is pushing its X-Men spinoffs, with the likes of The New Mutants, Deadpool 2, Gambit and X-Force all incoming alongside the next instalment of the main X-Men franchise, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. And, with the studio faced with the daunting prospect of recasting Wolverine, they may have a ready made replacement in his young female clone…
Would you like to see an X-23 solo movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…