Hugh Jackman’s record-breaking run as Wolverine finally ended with 2017’s Logan. The character met his demise during the film’s finale, an ending that was unexpected and a bit divisive. However, Director James Mangold revealed that Wolverine’s death was a logical final step for Jackman and the character he became synonymous with for nearly 20 years.
From 2000 through 2018, Jackman appeared as the mutant superhero nine times. With age finally catching up with the Australian entertainer, he and Mangold, who also directed 2013’s Wolverine, decided that this would be Jackman’s last go as Logan.
“It seemed logical, that if it were going to be his last film, that he's either going to ride off onto the horizon or die, that you need to have some kind of curtain on his story,” Mangold said in an interview with Comicbook.com. “You either have the Shane ending where he rides off on the mountain to parts unknown, which had largely been the way his character was resolved in every preceding movie, or you'd kill him.”
The director concluded that the choice needed to be made to provide a sense of closure, both for Jackman and for his most iconic role. "You needed some sense of an ending if you were going to end, if you were dealing with the legacy of Hugh's many performances and many films, and trying to set this part in some definitive way.”
There has always been hope that Wolverine would join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it seems the Disney’s takeover of Fox came a little to late for Jackman. The actor has said that the only reason he would return to the character would be for an MCU outing, but the chances of that happening at this point are pretty slim.
Source: IGN