by: S. Scott Stanikmas

Hugh Jackman has spent a considerable amount of time in the X-Men movie universe as Wolverine. It’s the role he’ll most likely always be remembered for. So it doesn’t come as much of a shock that the actor wants his swan song as the Canadian mutant to be as perfect as possible.

In an interview with Collider, Jackman talked about the upcoming Wolverine sequel which will see him pop the claws one last time as Logan:

I’ll be really honest with you, the actual script in its full form we’re up to about Page 60. Obviously there’s a treatment, so it’s not fully done yet, we’re not fully there. Patrick [Stewart] does figure in it that’s for sure. I think it’s a really important relationship but I want to see signs of that quasi-father/son sort of relationship that has not been seen before, and sides of particularly Professor X that have not been seen before. So we have some really, really cool ideas.

It’s interesting that Jackman is angling for the “father/son” relationship this time around. Professor X usually has that kind of relationship with the young mutants that cross the threshold of his School for Gifted Students but his kinship with Logan has been different. They’ve almost been equals since the first film, maybe a mentor / student type of thing at some points, but a familial bond hasn’t been explored before with these two.

It may be finding that right tone has been tougher than everyone thought it would be. But Jackman is looking to get this film as close to divine as he can get it:

I feel that I’m pushing harder than I’ve ever pushed before. I suppose the stakes just go up when you announce before your last season that this is your last season, you don’t want one game to not be your best… People ask me, “How are you gonna be able to let it go?” To me the only way you can let it go is if you left blood every day on the studio floor.

I’m sounding a little cagey because this is the last time I’m playing him, and I have just made the commitment to myself, really, and told everyone that until that script is perfect, until it is that perfect way to sign out, I’m not gonna start shooting. So that’s why I don’t wanna say “Yes” for sure, because until Page 115, 120, whatever it is…

But fans shouldn’t worry about the film getting pushed back. Hugh Jackman is adamant about making sure filming begins soon. He even started his Wolverine training to make sure he’s at his peak to play the adamantium-laced warrior:

The ultimate plan is let’s start shooting next year… I’m starting the training, I’m starting the eating and mentally really preparing for it. It’s not just me, the studio as well—I’m trying to do something with this that’s a little special, a little different. I’ve got a very, very strong idea of what that is. I really have known for quite a long time how I want to finish this sort of odyssey that I’ve been on, this amazing journey. And I won’t let it fall anywhere in between. I won’t fall short of it.

James Mangold has signed on to direct the sequel after the success of the previous film. The expected release date is March 3, 2017, but if it’s not perfect we may not see it until summer of 2017.

One thing is guaranteed – Hugh Jackman will make damn sure the last time he goes berserker, he’ll be doing it in style!