wolverine 3

Hugh Jackman has made it clear that Wolverine 3 is his last appearance as the world’s most famous mutant, and it looks like the studio might be preparing us for what comes next. A new batch of set photos from the upcoming movie have leaked to the website Just Jared, giving us what may be our our first glimpse at Laura Kinney a.k.a. X-23, Wolverine’s female clone, who has long been rumored to be in the film.

Wolverine 3 set photos courtesy of Just Jared

Wolverine 3 set photos courtesy of Just Jared

Wolverine 3 set photos courtesy of Just Jared

The photos show a young girl, bloodied but apparently fine, accompanying a grizzled Wolverine and meeting with a much older Professor X. This lends some credence to the idea that elements of the Old Man Logan storyline from the comics will be worked into Wolverine 3. And whether that blood is someone else’s or if she just heals really fast, both theories point to a possible X-23 sighting.

Adding fuel to the fire, That Hashtag Show found a casting call from Wolverine 3 studio 20th Century Fox way back in January.

Code Name: Zoe

12-to-15 year-old girl

A pound puppy, raised in captivity in a time of battle, without support systems of a normal childhood. She has no family and until now, has never left the compound in which she was born. She has an authentic intensity – Her expressions & body language speak volumes, without words.

Once released in the outside world, everything is new, every experience and every image a first. This does not mean everything is wonderful or wondrous. Some thing she sees (things we might regard as conventional) may scare her or anger her and things we may find interesting may bore her.

She has not been instructed in many social conventions – she can eat like an animal. She studies and often mimics people’s behavior. She has a high IQ, but is also a temperamental, impulsive and feral creature that can raise genuine mayhem.

She is a girl that has never been kissed. Looking for a real girl – not made up or done up. Also with genuine edge, not made up or put on.

Martial arts or gymnastics experience preferred but not necessary – but actress must be extremely physical and able to improvise scenes without necessarily resorting to speech. Do not play it “cute.”

Compare that description to a description of X-23 from from Wikipedia:

Cloned from a damaged copy of Wolverine’s genome, X-23 was created to be the perfect killing machine. For years, she proved herself a capable assassin working for an organization called the Facility. A series of tragedies eventually led her to Wolverine and the X-Men. She attends school at the X-Mansion, and eventually became a member of X-Force.

In the comics, x-23 is currently the All-New Wolverine; a title she claimed to honor Logan, the original Wolverine, after he was killed in combat. Knowing that Jackman is not coming back to the role, Wolverine 3 may be the studio’s way of passing the torch in a similar fashion, establishing the new, female Wolverine in the same movie that the original passes away.

And one more tidbit that points us in this direction, director/producer Brian Singer, the architect of the cinematic X-Men universe, revealed back in an interview with Fandango back May that he was interested in bringing the” female Wolverine” to the screen for a planned X-Force movie.

“I have discussed that with the studio. I actually initially pitched the X-Force and the female [Wolverine].”

Add all of this together, and it looks very, very likely that X-23 will make it to the big screen, and that there is a pretty decent chance she will also inherit the title of Wolverine from Jackman’s Logan as he exits the franchise.

We could not be more excited.

Wolverine 3 hits theatres on March 3rd, 2017.