Matthew Macfadyen is going from one dysfunctional family to another, with the Succession star in talks to join Ryan Reynolds in the third Deadpool movie.
The film stars Reynolds as Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and The Crown‘s Emma Corrin in a villain role. Macfadyen’s role is unknown, but the feature was searching for a character described as being a third wheel to Deadpool and Wolverine.
Macfadyen has been celebrated for his work as the scheming, obsequious Tom in Succession, which had the premiere of its fourth and final season on Sunday. He won a supporting actor Emmy last year and was nominated for an Emmy in 2020. Deadline first reported the news of his casting.
Bobs Burgers‘ Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin previously wrote a previous draft of the script, with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick coming in later to write on the project.
The third Deadpool comes after Reynolds spent years lobbying Jackman to bring his Wolverine out of retirement for a Deadpool film. Last year, Jackman finally acquiesced, with the duo sharing the news in September. Jackman previously stated that 2017’s Logan would be his final time playing the character, which he first played in 2000’s X-Men, the film that made him a star.
As for Reynolds, he reinvented his career with with the first Deadpool, which 20th Century Fox released in 2016 and at the time was the top-grossing R-rated film ever. The franchise now moves into the Marvel Cinematic Universe following Disney’s acquisition of Fox. It will be the MCU’s first R-rated entry and the first produced by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.
Filmmaker Shawn Levy, who has collaborated with both Reynolds and Jackman on projects such as The Adam Project, Free Guy and Real Steel, is directing the feature. Before the Deadpool news broke last year, Levy told The Hollywood Reporter he was keen to unite the two actors in one film: “What we want is to fold it all in together and make a big, fat bromance sandwich of a movie, because the world wants the Hugh Jackman-Ryan Reynolds movie.”
Disney has the film dated for Nov. 8, 2024.
As Succession airs its final episodes, Macfadyen is working on the Amazon feature Holland, Michigan, which stars Nicole Kidman and Gael García Bernal. The actor is repped by UTA and Hamilton Hodell.