Wolverine and Deadpool "changed radically" after Hugh Jackman joined the cast.

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Since working on 2022's The Adam Project, Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy, the director of Free Guy, have been developing their idea for a third Deadpool film. But when Reynolds received a call from an old friend, their brainstorming took a drastic turn to the left.

The day Hugh called Ryan was when everything drastically changed, Levy says to Entertainment Weekly, referring to Hugh Jackman. "We had been putting a lot of potential storylines for a third Deadpool film through workshopping. None of those story ideas foresaw such a drastic change; instead, they were more akin to the plots of the first two Deadpool films. It's safe to say that from that day on, the story changed completely and actually came to us very, very quickly.

The fact that Levy and Jackman are friends didn't hurt either. Real Steel (2011), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), and Free Guy (2021) were the films on which the two collaborated.

The title of the film, which opens in theaters on July 26, is self-explanatory: Reynolds and Jackman are now portraying Deadpool and Wolverine from Marvel comics on screen together for the first time since 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Additionally, this is the first time that both characters have joined Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe of the Avengers with their R-rated antics. Wade Wilson (Reynolds), having given up his red-leather suit and katanas, is ready to lead a modest life. Wade discovers, however, that he still has a higher purpose when the Time Variance Authority, a multiverse organization tasked with preserving the holy timeline, pulls him from his reality.

After portraying the iron-clawed berserker in nine X-Men movies, including 2017's Logan, which provided a definitive conclusion to the character's tale, Jackman appeared to be happy to step away from the role. Even the actors occasionally make fun of the notion that Wade and Logan will reunite for a serious movie following Origins, a wish that fans, including Reynolds, have always harbored. According to Levy, "everyone assumed that Hugh's return was the result of me or Ryan persistently bugging or pitching him." "But even more astonishingly, Hugh Jackman's epiphany led to this outcome. He was eager to bring Logan and Deadpool together, so the phone call that altered everything was truly an enlightening gift from above.

The trailers for the film Succession's Matthew Macfadyen's character Mr. Paradox hint that Logan "let down his entire world," and that's what Deadpool and Wolverine discover. "This is still Wade dealing with certain issues, but it's very much two characters, two heroes, and two haunted men hoisted together in a shared journey," Levy explains.

Wade and Logan are accompanied on their journey by a multitude of other characters, some of whom we are familiar with and some of whom we are not (at least not formally). As Cassandra Nova, an incredibly strong psychic and, sort of, but not quite, the twin sister of Professor Charles Xavier, the leader of the X-Men as portrayed in previous films by both Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy, Emma Corrin, an Emmy nominee from The Crown and Murder at the End of the World, enters the scene. More familiar faces from the previous two Deadpool films return as well: Rob Delaney as Peter/Sugar Bear; Karen Soni as Dopinder; Vanessa (Morena Baccarin); Blind Al (Leslie Uggams); Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand); Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna); Colossus (Stefan Kapičić); and Shatterstar (Lewis Tan).

Levy then declines to comment on the roles that have been leaked, either by paparazzi or the press. Aaron Stanford, who reprised his role as the fire-wielding mutant Pyro in X2-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: X2, is one name he does mention. The first preview of Deadpool and Wolverine that appeared at the Super Bowl gave fans a sneak peek.

Levy comments, "I'll say we didn't start off with a wishlist," regarding all these notable appearances. "We allowed the plot to determine the characters, not the other way around, from the first day we began writing this Deadpool and Wolverine story. That was the catalyst for Aaron's return as Pyro, and it holds true for almost every character in the film.

Although there is a sizable cast in this multiverse-hopping, F-bomb-dropping, fourth wall-shattering extravaganza, the director makes it clear that Reynolds and Jackman are the main characters. "As a two-hander, oil-and-water story, this movie draws inspiration from the great films in that genre," according to him. This includes all of the quests that pair two mismatched characters, such as Midnight Run (1988), 48 Hours (1982), Rain Man (1988), and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987). the pleasure it gives us as viewers to see that relationship develop.