Hugh Jackman concludes seventeen years of playing Wolverine on the big screen (starting with Bryan Singer's X-Men in 200o) with the theatrical release of next month's buzzed-about X-Men film, Logan. That movie is far from the end for 20th Century Fox's X-Men cinematic universe, of course. Currently, Fox has three mutant-based films in development, including Josh Boone's New Mutants comic book adaptation, the next main X-Men film (aka. X-Men: Supernova) and the sequel to last year's raunchy action/comedy hit Deadpool - all three of which may start filming sometime this year, no less.

Deadpool 2 stumbled a bit on its way down the pre-production pipeline when Deadpool director Tim Miller stepped down from the sequel, but the movie has since recovered and is now moving full-speed ahead, under the supervision of John Wick co-director David Leitch instead. With recent reports indicating that the casting choices for the two new key players in Deadpool 2 (the time-traveling duo of Cable and Domino) could be officially finalized any day now, it's not surprising to hear that production on the Ryan Reynolds-led followup ought to be getting underway pretty soon from now.

My Entertainment World (hat tip to Omega Underground) is reporting that Deadpool 2 - going by the working title Love Machine - is now set to begin filming in Vancouver on May 1st, keeping it on course to reach theaters in 2018. Although this is not official confirmation of the sequel's start date, My Entertainment World has proven itself to be an increasingly reliable source for filming start dates over the past year. That means there's a pretty good chance that Reynolds will be back in costume and playing the Merc with a Mouth yet again, by the time that spring is underway.

Kerry Washington and Deadpool
Kerry Washington was rumored for Domino in Deadpool 2

In recent weeks, Pierce Brosnan has emerged as the front-runner to costar in Deadpool 2 as Cable: the X-Men comics fan-favorite whose appearance in the sequel was first teased, back in the Ferris Bueller's Day Off-riffing end credits scene to the original Deadpool. At the same time, Scandal headliner Kerry Washington has now moved to the front of the pack among those actresses in contention for the role of Domino, a character who (like Cable) might also appear down the line in the X-Force movie that is tentatively set to serve as the third installment in the Deadpool movie series.

Despite its unexpected change-up in director in pre-production, Deadpool 2 appears to be coming together at a steady pace now and shouldn't have to rush to make the tentative May filming start date. The final casting for Cable and Domino aside, the next big question hanging over the sequel's head right now involves its connection or lack thereof to Logan. The latter is now confirmed to be getting a post-credits sequence that was not included in its pre-release press screenings - meaning there's a chance (however slight) that moviegoers will get their first tease of Deadpool 2 on the big screen, as soon as next month.

NEXT: What Kerry Washington Could Look Like as Domino

Source: My Entertainment World [via Omega Underground]

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