AceShowbiz - Ryan Reynolds insists he's not "responsible" for Hugh Jackman being cast in "Deadpool 3". The "Free Guy" star - who plays the title role in the superhero series - explains the 54-year-old actor reprising his role as Wolverine in the third installment "happened" because the "X-Men" star got in touch at the right time to be involved in the Shawn Levy-helmed flick due out in September 2024.

"I think you're giving me too much credit. I don't believe that I'm responsible for Hugh coming back. I always wanted Hugh to come back. My first meeting with Kevin Feige when Disney bought Fox years ago, maybe three years ago, or three and a half, four years ago, I'm not sure, was about doing a movie with the two of us, a Deadpool Wolverine movie," the 46-year-old actor told Collider.

"And that was not possible at the time. And then Hugh just happened to call at that perfect moment and express that he'd be interested in coming back and doing this one more time. And the contents of that conversation, I'll let Hugh, because I know it's only inevitable that you and Hugh are going to speak at some point soon, I'm sure. I'll let Hugh answer that on his own. But he expressed interest in coming back, and then it was my job to take that to Kevin Feige one more time and sell it."

Ryan remained modest about getting Hugh involved with the franchise because he felt it's not "a hard sell" but had to go through "red tape." He said, "It's not like adding Hugh Jackman to a movie like this is a hard sell. It's an immediate and emphatic, unqualified yes."

"It's a lot of moving parts and Fox and 'X-Men' and all that kind of stuff that Marvel needs to sort through. A lot of red tape in order to make that happen. And they did it. And I'm really grateful that they did it, because for me, working with Hugh is a dream come true. But working with Logan and having Logan and Wade together in a movie is beyond any dream I would ever be audacious enough to have. So I'm really, really super f****** excited to do this film."