Picks For Who Could Be The Next Wolverine

When the hype began for the upcoming film Logan way back in March 2015, star Hugh Jackman — who plays Logan — summed up the film with the words, "One last time." Given how many times Jackman has donned the adamantium claws and played the scrappiest mutant in the X-Universe, it's no wonder that he's finally ready to step away from the role. But his departure opens up a very big question that's on every superhero movie fan's mind: who should play Wolverine after Jackman? You might not agree with some of these ideas for replacements, but see what you think.

Who would have thought that the lad who once played Harry Potter might someday grow up to become a viable possibility to play Logan? Some people might be skeptical even now, but he's been working out and expanding his range, and with films like Horns and Imperium, it's no longer out of the realm of possibility that he could play a plausible badass. Yes, okay, perhaps he's a trifle skinny for the role, but he's clearly capable of growing the requisite facial hair, and given that there's photographic evidence of his six-pack, it isn't hard to picture him bulking up even further if the opportunity presented itself.

Sure, this casting choice is just begging for someone to come up to Logan at some point down the line and ask, "Say, has anybody ever told you that you look a little like Thor?" As it stands right now, though, Thor and Wolverine aren't actually in the same movie universes anyway, so it might never even be an issue. Plus, Liam's clearly proven his chops as an action hero already, so kicking things up a notch and giving him a chance to play a new superhero would be the perfect next step in his evolution as an action star.

Poor Taylor Kitsch: always a bridesmaid, never an action hero. After proving his mettle in almost 70 episodes of NBC's Friday Night Lights, he played the title character in the criminally underrated sci-fi action flick John Carter, but even before he'd departed the prime-time lineup, he'd had his shot at entering the X-Universe by playing Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He might not have gotten the chance to make the jump to play Gambit in the character's standalone film, but he's shown that he's got the chops — both acting and mutton — to play a hero, and he deserves a role to take him into the A-level stardom that he so richly deserves.

The former Gossip Girl star hasn't managed to secure a real breakout role since wrapping up his run as Dan Humphrey, but for those who've been paying attention, he's been turning critics' heads in such films as Greetings from Tim Buckley, Cymbeline, and The Paper Store while also fronting the band MOTHXR. Not that we're discouraging the man from his music career, but this is the sort of role that might lead him to drop the mic and step back in front of the camera full-time.

Given the amount of success they had with an Australian in the role last time, it couldn't hurt to consider another Australian this time around, and the former True Blood star fits the bill handily. He's done his fair share of action films, including Blunt Force Trauma, Northmen: A Viking Saga, and — how appropriate — Knights of Badassdom. If he seems like a left-field choice, well, just consider how much you knew about Hugh Jackman going into his performance in the first X-Men film.

Sure, Harrington's got a lot on his plate at this particular moment, what with Game of Thrones and all, but when the series has run its course, it'll probably be right about time for someone else to step in and take over for Jackman. We clearly know that he's capable of being a badass, and he's about as high-profile an actor as Marvel could hope to get in the role. It's win-win for everyone!

Along the same lines as the aforementioned Mr. Harrington, there's no way that The CW is going to keep Supernatural going much longer, which means that Padalecki is going to be out of a job at some point in the relatively near future. He's proven that he can battle back again the forces of evil on repeated occasions, so he's already got that aspect of the character down. If he can just get past all those years of working alongside Jensen Ackles and get in the habit of playing a lone wolf, he'll be perfect.

He's played a vampire on Being Human, a dwarf in The Hobbit, and these days he's been playing the title character on PBS's Poldark, but Turner hasn't yet had the chance to play superhero. He has, however, received acclaim for his performances in all three of those projects we just cited, so why not give him a chance to brandish a set of adamantium claws and really go for broke?

Okay, we know O'Loughlin is a little bit older than the other candidates we've pitched thus far — he's just hit the big 4-0 this year — but there's nothing that says that he can't keep playing the character into his fifties, especially if he's as good as the role as we'd expect him to be. He's done the vampire thing on Moonlight. And he's been playing a cop for many seasons now on CBS's Hawaii Five-0 reboot, so we know he can be dark, brooding, and play the bad cop when the need arises. Sounds like Logan to us!

Although the Cuban-American actor is better known for his work in telenovelas and his stint on Dancing with the Stars than he is action films, 2016 has seen him show up in two such films — Term Life and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter — and he's also been cast for a tiny part in Brent Ryan Green's post-apocalyptic flick The Veil. As long as he can work without his accent, he's got a good shot at being considered for the role.

Just ignore all that gray in his facial hair. Manganiello doesn't turn 40 until December 2016, and he's got the look, the swagger, and the requisite sense of humor to positively kick ass as Wolverine. He's also well-versed in the sci-fi/fantasy genre after his years on True Blood, where he played a werewolf. Wolves and Wolverine both have claws and are both ready to draw blood when the need arises. Could there be a more perfect candidate?

Given how easy it would've been to imagine his dad Clint stepping into the role of Old Man Logan a couple of years ago, the father-son resemblance between the two makes it insanely easy to picture Scott Eastwood popping out a pair of claws and giving evil mutants what for. He's also been known to chomp on a cigar on occasion, which puts him even closer to Logan territory without even trying.

Here's the man who's got the best possible positioning going into this discussion: Jackman actually said outright, "I think Tom Hardy would be a great Wolverine." This, of course, presupposes that Hardy would actually want to be Wolverine, given the other projects he's got on his plate. At the very least, though, there's no question that you'd get some fantastic acting out of Logan if Hardy were to play the part.