‘Deadpool 3’ Halts Production Amid SAG-AFTRA Strike

Production has paused on Deadpool 3 following SAG-AFTRA’s decision to move forward with strike action last night.

The Marvel pic is the biggest project to date to be halted by the strike.

The news comes just a few days after Ryan Reynolds shared a first look at the return of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine return in Deadpool 3 on his Instagram stories. In the pic, Reynolds can be seen walking with a super-suited Wolverine in black and yellow.

Jackman joins the Deadpool franchise after portraying the adamantium-clawed mutant in nine films from 2000 to 2017, spanning from X-Men to Logan. The first look emerged on the heels of news that Jennifer Garner will likewise make a Marvel return as Elektra after playing the character in 2003’s Daredevil. Shawn Levy is directing and producing the Marvel threequel. Plot details remain under wraps. The script was written by Reynolds, Levy, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Zeb Wells. Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen join the franchise as newcomers, as Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, Morena Baccarin, Stefan Kapicic, Rob Delaney, Brianna Hildebrand, and Shioli Kutsuna return.

Levy and Reynolds are producing the film alongside Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who is being introduced to the franchise for the first time following Disney’s acquisition of Fox. The pic was recently moved up on Disney’s release schedule from November 8 to May 3, 2024, as several other MCU titles saw their dates pushed amid the WGA strike.

SAG-AFTRA members are expected on the pickets early Friday morning. Union President Fran Drescher will be on the picket lines Friday on the first day of the guild’s strike against the film and television industry. She’ll be joined by Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s national executive director and chief negotiator, and members of the guild’s negotiating committee. Drescher and her team will be picketing outside Netflix’s offices in Los Angeles in the morning from 9-9:40, followed by picketing outside the gates of Paramount Studios from 10-10:40 and then over to Warner Bros. in Burbank from 11:10-11:45 and Disney from noon to 12:45.

As the strike was being ratified yesterday, A-listers at the Oppenheimer premiere, including Emily Blunt and Matt Damon departed the screening in solidarity with striking actors.