Liev Schreiber Was Originally Supposed To Be In Logan

On one end of the Wolverine spectrum there's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the character's first solo film and a terrible movie in general. On the other end there's Logan, the character's last solo film and a terrific movie overall. The two share very little in common other than they both star Hugh Jackman, but one X-Men Origins actor almost joined Jackman for his final stint as Wolverine. Liev Schreiber played Logan's half-brother Sabretooth in X-Men Origins, but apparently the actor nearly got a chance to redeem the character in Logan. That ended up not happening, but this how Schreiber recalls the story.

There was an invitation early on from Hugh [Jackman] and [director James Mangold] and I would have loved to work on it. It was very difficult given Ray Donovan's schedule, and I think they went a different direction as well with story. I think it's a terrific movie. I'm just very proud of Hugh and the way that he handled himself with that franchise and that character. It was a great experience to be involved with one of them and to get to work with them. I had mixed emotions when I heard that he was going to retire.

Liev Schreiber will be starring in the biopic Chuck as Chuck Wepner, the real-life boxer who was the inspiration for Rocky, and the actor chatted with Variety about the movie and some of his other roles -- including Victor Creed aka Sabretooth. As the story goes, Wolverine's half-brother had a role in the earlier drafts of the scripts for Logan, but anyone who has seen the movie knows that at some point that idea didn't work, and they went a different route with the story. But Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold still called up Schreiber to gauge his interest level. It sounds like he would have been down to clown, but his schedule on the hit Showtime drama Ray Donavan would have made the scheduling difficult.

While we can't say that having Sabretooth in Logan would have improved an already really good movie, it would have been very interesting to see Liev Schreiber back in the sideburns. Family is a huge theme in Logan, so it's obvious why they considered bringing in the only known blood relative of the character into the picture. The interactions between Logan, Victor, and Laura would have been cool to see, and it would have been nice to see the character redeemed. Sabertooth is just one of the many X-Men characters who have been shortchanged by the movies, so the character is past due for some redemption.

Logan isn't in theaters right now, but it will be returning for one night only on May 16, 2017, for a special black and white edition screening. If you've still got the fever, make sure to get your tickets!