Hugh Jackman has spent more than a decade as the primary face of the X-Men franchise, but that time is soon coming to an end. And while the actor has previously blamed his inability to eat another egg white omelet as a part of his decision to leave Wolverine behind, apparently legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld also had a hand in helping Jackman decide his future. How? By expressing the importance of leaving on a high note.
The Australian actor was a guest on Live With Kelly and Michael this week, and it was while discussing his reasoning for ending his Wolverine run that he namedropped Seinfeld as having a part to play in his decision. Said Jackman,
I was having a chat with him about a year ago at his birthday, and he was talking about why he finished the end of the series and how it was riding high. And he said he just always had this feeling, a belief, that you never know when either your energy or the audience's energy is going to dip over into, 'Please go!' He said you should finish on a high note.
What Jackman is referencing is the fact that the television series Seinfeld ended after nine seasons, despite the fact that the ratings were still soaring and the fact that it was one of the most popular shows around. The X-Men star saw parallels between this and where the comic book movie franchise currently is, and made a decision. He explained,
I've been doing it for 17 years, I love it; I think the movies are getting better. And all of a sudden, as he was talking, I went, 'This is it.'
You may think that this would prove to be a sad moment for the actor, but instead he revealed that he has more energy going into his final Wolverine performance – which will be in director James Mangold’s The Wolverine sequel – than any other movie he’s done in the series. Said Jackman,
It's the greatest feeling. I'm more excited about this movie than ever before, and I just know in my gut it's the right thing, and hopefully in five years I'm not coming back here and going, 'Why did I do that?'
When you consider the entire breadth of Hugh Jackman’s tenure as Wolverine, this strategy really does make a whole lot of sense. During the X-Men: The Last Stand/X-Men Origins: Wolverine years, had the actor decided to leave the part behind it would have been a rather terrible way to exit. Of course, in the last few years the franchise has bounced back in an incredibly huge way, and last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past was one of the best received titles we’ve seen yet. Hopefully this positive streak will continue through until March 3, 2017 when the next Wolverine movie comes out, and Jackman will get the high-note departure he desires.
