“Deadpool 3” Adds “Succession” Star Matthew Macfadyen
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are getting one of the best character actors around for their long-awaited Marvel team-up in Deadpool 3.
Succession star Matthew Macfadyen, who plays the scheming if oft overmatched Tom Wambsgans, will be trading sparring partners like Brian Cox’s Logan Roy and Sarah Snook’s Shiv Roy for the Merc with the Mouth and Wolverine, Deadline reports. Macfadyen joins fellow newcomer Emma Corrin (The Crown), who was recently announced to be playing the film’s villain.
It’s not yet known what Macfadyen’s role will be role, but The Hollywood Reporter notes that Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy has been searching for a character described as Deadpool and Wolverine’s third wheel. Macfadyen has all but perfected playing the type with his Succession role, where he was often bulldozed by his wife, Shiv, or bullied by her brothers Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kiernan Culkin), or simply ignored (until he became useful) by her father Logan. Macfadyen is a terrific performer and recently won a BAFTA and an Emmy in 2022 for his work on the series.
Deadpool 3 will find Jackman reprising the role of Wolverine—yes, despite Wolverine dying in James Mangold’s excellent 2017 film Logan—and finally crossing paths with Reynold’s Deadpool in a proper team-up. (They briefly starred opposite each other as these characters in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but this was years before the 2016 version of Wade Wilson/Deadpool that Reynolds rebooted to great success). The script comes from longtime Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick—Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin and Wendy Molyneux wrote a previous draft.
A fun fact—in 2003’s X2: X-Men United, another Succession star, Brian Cox, played William Stryker, the man who first did experiments on Wolverine and turned him into the adamantium-clawed beast that he became.
Deadpool 3 is the first film in the franchise to fall directly under the Marvel Studios banner.
For more on Deadpool 3, check out these stories:
Hugh Jackman Reveals his Meal Plan for Bulking Up to Play Wolverine in “Deadpool 3”
Hugh Jackman Teases “Double Role” for Wolverine in “Deadpool 3”
“Deadpool 3” Adds Emma Corrin to Cast Alongside Ryan Reynolds & Hugh Jackman
Featured image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 12: Matthew Macfadyen, winner of the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award for ‘Succession,’ poses in the press room during the 74th Primetime Emmys at Microsoft Theater on September 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
