HELLO LADIES Star Stephen Merchant Joins WOLVERINE 3
British writer/producer/actor Stephen Merchant is best known for creating comedies like The Office, Life's Too Short, and HBO's underrated gem Hello Ladies, but now he's secured his highest-profile acting job yet: he'll appear opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming superhero film Wolverine 3.
This will be his biggest film credit by far. Thus far in his career, he's had roles in movies like Hot Fuzz, Burke & Hare, and Hall Pass, so a superhero film is definitely going to open him up to a wider audience who's probably unfamiliar with his work (as least as an actor). There's no word yet about who exactly he'll be playing, but as this Instagram video reveals, he's buzzed his hair for the role:
At this point, the official plot specifics of Wolverine 3 are still being kept under lock and key. There's been plenty of speculation that it will at least loosely follow the famous Old Man Logan storyline from the comics, and that seems to be the case considering producer Simon Kinberg confirmed the story will take place in the future. We know Patrick Stewart's Professor X is coming back, there's a mad scientist involved, Boyd Holbrook has been cast as the villain, X-23 is rumored to appear, Sabretooth may be coming back, and Wolverine may finally bust out the berserker rage, but we're still mostly in the dark with this movie.
James Mangold directs Wolverine 3, which hits theaters on March 23, 2017.