Deadpool & Wolverine is packed full of jaw-dropping cameos, though at least one was revealed in advance by Marvel Studios. In the threequel's final trailer, we were treated to a glimpse of Hugh Jackman's reunion with X-23 actress Dafne Keen after they last shared the screen in 2017's Logan.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, The Acolyte star confirmed director Shawn Levy reached out to her about playing Laura again with the idea being that "she brings a lot of humanity and empathy to [Wolverine's] character."
Breaking down her pivotal scene with Logan when she inspires him to join the fight against Cassandra Nova, Keen recalled:
"Imagine losing your only father figure in life, only to reunite with your father almost ten years later, but he doesn’t know that you are his daughter and he doesn’t have that bond with you in return. So it’s heartbreaking and beautiful that they are almost father and daughter in every universe. As soon as they meet each other, he feels comfortable enough to have that conversation with her. I don’t think he would’ve had that conversation with anyone else, and she wouldn’t have had that conversation with anyone else either."
"So it was a really lovely thing to play, because, even if he doesn’t know her, he does know her. They’re one and the same. So it was a really emotional day for me and Hugh. We were at this campfire, and we’d done scenes at a campfire in Logan. We were in a forest, and we’d done a bunch of forest scenes in Logan. The last time we’d acted together was his death scene [in Logan], I think, and now we were back doing this. It was a night shoot, and you’re already delirious because it’s 3:00 AM, but it was still a very emotional day."
Keen later revealed that a week after signing up for Deadpool & Wolverine, she learned of plans for her to share the screen with some Hollywood heavyweights.
One actor she wasn't able to stand alongside on set, however, was Chris Evans' Johnny Storm/Human Torch. The actor reprises his Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer role as the hero and spoke with Entertainment Weekly about how that came to be.
"I was so excited," Evans says, crediting Ryan Reynolds with bringing him back into the fold. "Ryan's a buddy. He just shot me a text saying, 'Listen, might be a long shot, but would you have any interest in reprising something from 20 years ago?' I said, 'Oh my God! Of course.'"
"Honestly, Ryan might be the only guy that I would've done it for because he's just got the Midas touch," he adds. "His self-awareness makes him almost invincible. He makes the joke before the audience gets a chance to make the joke, so if you're going to revisit a character and you have to find a way to make it work, Ryan's humor makes just about everything work, so you feel an automatic sense of safety."
"I just had to fly in real quick, do a couple days of filming, and fly. For me, it was pretty easy."
As for whether his first appearance in the MCU since 2019's Avengers: Endgame has made him think about suiting up as Captain America again, Evans claimed, "No. No, not really." He did later point out that he "can't wait" to watch Captain America: Brave New World, though.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters.