The most contested chair in Marvel's new X-Men lineup may be closer to filled. A reported meeting between Marvel Studios and a two-time Emmy winner has put a name in play for Wolverine, the role no actor has owned since Hugh Jackman made it his own.
Jeff Sneider reports in The InSneider that there are whispers Jeremy Allen White has already met with Marvel to discuss playing Wolverine. The role would reportedly start small in the new X-Men movie before expanding into much more screen time later — "A lot more," in Sneider's words.
Nothing about the report suggests a deal, an offer or even formal talks. It describes a meeting, and Marvel has not commented, so White's involvement stays firmly in the unconfirmed column for now.
The fit has a certain logic if the whispers hold. Sneider points to stature as part of the appeal: Wolverine stands 5'3" in the comics, and White, at 5'7", would bring the character closer to that build than the towering take audiences know from Jackman.
White also arrives with the kind of following Marvel likes to borrow. He won back-to-back Emmys as Carmy Berazato in The Bear, spent a decade as Lip Gallagher on Shameless, and drew strong notices for The Iron Claw — though his recent swings at prestige pictures, including the Springsteen film, underperformed.
Any successor inherits a long shadow. Jackman played Wolverine across nine films, took his farewell bow in Logan, then returned anyway for the billion-dollar Deadpool & Wolverine — which is precisely why Marvel would reportedly ease a new Wolverine in with a small role first.
That structure would also protect the ensemble around him. An X-Men movie introducing a dozen mutants at once risks turning into a Wolverine showcase by default, so a deliberately small debut would let the team establish itself before the claws take over later films.
The rest of the team has been filling in around the vacancy. Reported and in-talks names around the production include Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Adam Driver as Mister Sinister, Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, Jackson Germann as Angel and Ben Wang in talks for Iceman.
Wolverine is one of only two signature chairs still drawing reports at this stage. Magneto, the other, pulled its own frontrunner story earlier this week, which makes the mutant lineup's two biggest names the last pieces of the puzzle.
Director Jake Schreier's X-Men movie is scheduled to reach theaters on May 5, 2028. Whether White is anywhere near it when cameras roll remains to be seen.
