Hugh Jackman's Wolverine Future In Doubt?

What are the chances Hugh Jackman decides he doesn't want to do the next solo Wolverine movie? What are the chances 20th Century Fox decides to move ahead any way and recast the role? These are the questions raised in Hugh Jackman's chat with Vanity Fair to promote the release of The Wolverine on blu-ray/dvd. When asked outright about a sequel, Jackman stated, "I don’t know whether or not I will do this next movie. I am really proud of this movie and I am excited to develop something with Jim Mangold from the beginning because that is a great ride. That’s exciting, to see what we come up with but I have a very high expectation of what it would need to be [for me to star in it] and if it doesn’t reach those, I won’t be doing it."

Yesterday, X-Men: Apocalypse was announced for 2016 meaning that film will likely come before any potential sequel to The Wolverine given Jackman's comments on the status of that project. "No there is not [a script in place] but Jim Mangold and I were literally on the phone last night talking about ideas but there is no script and no writer yet so it’s a way off."

At 45, one has to wonder how much longer Jackman can continue to play a near-immortal mutant who ages at a greatly reduced rate. After Days of Future Past, there's 'Apocalypse', another James Mangold 'Wolverine' solo-feature and an 'X-Force' film from Jeff Wadlow - all potential vehicles for Jackman to star in or co-star. And with Fox recently hiring Simon Kinsberg to develop their shared universe with the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, it's hard to imagine the studio slowing development of its superhero properties for any reason, even Jackman. For comparison's sake, Marvel Studios has already stated they view the Iron Man role as akin to James Bond, meaning that eventually, they'll just recast the role and keep pumping out films. Would that approach work for Wolverine after Jackman has enjoyed such a long tenure?