Here's Why Hugh Jackman Isn't In 'Dark Phoenix'

Director Simon Kinberg is explaining his decision to leave Wolverine out of Dark Phoenix completely.

While Hugh did bid goodbye to the beloved character in the 2017 film Logan, Simon kept him out for a few additional reasons.

“If you know the Dark Phoenix story, you’d want to really service the love story between Logan and Jean,” Simon told Rolling Stone. “And I think the notion of Hugh Jackman, as great as he looks for his age, and Sophie Turner — it didn’t sit well with me. Or anyone else!”

Simon continued, “There was an element of this being Jean’s story. And I was committing so fully to it that I didn’t want to run the risk of pulling away from Jean by going to the well of a fan-favorite character in these movies. I wanted this to be a very different experience of seeing an X-Men movie.”

Dark Phoenix hits theaters this week on June 7.