Darren Aronofsky no longer directing The Wolverine

darren aronofsky

Just when things were looking so good for The Wolverine , the comic book sequel has hit a devastating snag – it’s just lost director Darren Aronofsky.

The Black Swan filmmaker, who signed on last year to helm the follow-up to 2009’s middling X-Men Origins: Wolverine , has departed the production, citing the film’s long production schedule as a problem.

“As I talked more about the film with my collaborators at Fox, it became clear that the production of The Wolverine would keep me out of the country for almost a year,” Aronofsky says in a press statement.

“I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again.”

No matter how you look at it, this is a massive disappointment. Aronofsky has sounded genuinely amped to be helming the comic sequel, and everything he’s said about it has given the impression that his Wolverine was going to be something really special.

Now that he’s walked away, 20th Century Fox will “regroup and move forward aggressively”, which basically means they’ll be grabbing the closest director and handing them the keys to Aronofsky’s project.

Our interest in this project just went out the door with Aronofsky.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.