EW Exclusive Wolverine No More

After 17 Years As Cinema's Most Popular Mutant, Hugh Jackman Hangs Up His Claws Forever In Logan. Here, He Explains Why He Decided To Say Goodbye.

- Kevin P. Sullivan

ABOUT 17 YEARS AGO, BACK IN 2000, HUGH JACKMAN GOT A PIECE OF UNSOLICITED advice from a pal. The Australian actor was 31 at the time, totally unknown to American audiences, and had just finished his first Hollywood film, playing the ornery, razor-clawed mutant Logan (alias: Wolverine) in Bryan Singer’s X-Men. It was his big break, though not everyone saw it that way. “Book another film,” Jackman’s mate told him. “The word on the street is that this is not going to be great. Book something else and be filming when this comes out—just so you know that you have another six months of rent.”

We’re pretty sure Jackman’s got the rent covered now. After eight films and $3.6 billion in global ticket sales, his run as Wolverine has set a longevity record among superheroes. In the almost two decades he’s been playing this one character, there have been two Batmans, two Supermans, and (we’re approximating here) 26 Spider-Mans. But now it’s over. Jackman’s life as the 150-year-old mutant comes to a gritty, gutsy, hard-as-adamantium end in Logan. “I had decided before that this is it,” he says. “I couldn’t have made the movie unless I knew that.”