Keanu Reeves reveals he wanted to play Wolverine: ‘I’m good with it now’

Actor is a longtime fan of Marvel comics

Keanu Reeves has revealed that he once coveted the role of Wolverine in the X-Men franchise.

The actor was interviewed on Sirius XM channel Radio Andy with his Bill & Ted Face the Music co-star Alex Winter, when presenter Andy Cohen asked him if he regretted missing out on any particular film.

“I always wanted to play Wolverine,” Reeves responded, referring to the role made famous by Hugh Jackman.

Winter joked: “It’s not too late. It’s not too late for Keanu to play Wolverine. I’m just going to leave that there.”

“It is too late,” Reeves said, laughing. “I’m good with it now.”

Host Andy Cohen then asked if it was “real” that Reeves had wanted to play Wolverine, to which the 55-year-old responded: “Oh yeah. Frank Miller‘s Wolverine? For sure.”

Miller, an American comic book writer, breathed new life into Wolverine with Chris Claremont during the Eighties. The character was originally created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein and John Romita Sr.

(Marvel Studios)

Jackman, who at the time had just a handful of film acting credits, was cast as the character in 2000’s X-Men, and went on to play the role in a number of sequels, prequels, and the Wolverine origin films.

Last week, Jackman was shown his 1999 audition tape for the role during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

Reeves previously mentioned his love of Marvel Comics and Frank Miller in a 2014 interview with MTV, ahead of the release of John Wick.

“Frank Miller’s work had a big impact, the Dark Knight series, four-chapter ‘The Wolverine’,” he said at the time. ”I always wanted to play Wolverine. I missed that one. They got a great Wolverine.”

He will return to an iconic role of his own, as Neo in the forthcoming movie The Matrix 4, which is scheduled for an April 2022 release.

His new film Bill and Ted Face the Music is released this year on 28 August.