Jared Keeso has built up a vocal fanbase over the past half decade or so as his show Letterkenny has grown in popularity. Many of those fans mostly celebrate their love by obsessively quoting his character Wayne and complaining about new episodes not coming fast enough. A small minority, however, express their fandom by dream-casting Keeso into a wide variety of projects including ones of the superhero variety. The latest dream is to have Keeso play Wolverine, and you know, it’s actually a pretty good idea.
Much of the recent conversation has centered around a petition, hilariously started more than two years ago by a fan named Christopher Atkinson. He pushed for Keeso to be cast as Wolverine in light of his Canadian heritage, his history of playing a tough guy and the fact that he’s in good shape and the right size. The casting ask didn’t attract a ton of attention at the time, but in the years since, it has slowly picked up some steam to the point where it started running around a fair amount over the past month. It has now passed 5,000 suggestions and could keep growing.
My guess is the majority of Letterkenny fans likely don’t need an explanation on why Jared Keeso would make a great Wolverine. For those who don’t watch the show, I’ll do my best to explain the appeal, and for the record, if you don’t watch the show, examine your life choices, bud. It’s funny, well-written and contains a host of amazing side characters from the local town that show up just often enough. Think of it like a Canadian Parks and Rec if there was way more hockey, swearing and drug usage.
Anyway, on the show, Jared Keeso plays the local tough guy Wayne. He spends his time chorin’, drinking Gus N’ Bru, throwing hands and getting angry about degens and their bad behavior. He’s a strong silent type who projects a very intimidating physical presence. He also has a very sly sense of humor that never seems too forced. He certainly wouldn’t play Wolverine the same way as Hugh Jackman, but it’s easy to envision a really interesting, new take he might have. So, let’s all let that marinate awhile and hope the studio realizes the possibilities.
As for what Jared Keeso is actually up to, the 9th season of Letterkenny premiered on Hulu this past Christmas and was warmly received by many fans. We don’t have specific dates on upcoming seasons, but there has been talk of filming multiple seasons at once; so, there is hope we’ll get a larger collection of episodes in the future. Prior to the lockdowns, he was touring North America with his Letterkenny castmembers as part of a live show, but like everything else over the past year, it was delayed.
It’s unclear what the MCU’s plans for Wolverine might be moving forward now that Hugh Jackman has stepped away from the role and Disney once again owns all the X-Men characters and can incorporate them into the MCU if it so chooses. Marvel has a history of bettting on comedians in superhero roles, specifically pushing Chris Pratt to audition for Guardians when he didn't want to, but key players including The Russo Brothers have talked about how complicated recasting Jackman would be. So, until we hear something beyond just a fan petition, you probably should pump the breaks on your excitement.
