Ryan Reynolds Has Major ‘Deadpool 3’ Update

Ryan Reynolds confirmed that Shawn Levy will direct Deadpool 3 on Friday. The actor posted a photo on Instagram with three versions of himself standing side by side in an eerie forest. Each was a different character he played in one of Levy’s films.

“The third film in my Shawn Levy trilogy will be a tad more stabby,” Reynolds wrote. Of course, this will also be the third film in the Deadpool trilogy, but each of those has had a different director. Reynold’s post came shortly after The Hollywood Reporter posted a rumor about Levy directing Deadpool 3, but that article said that Levy is still in negotiations for the project. It also said that screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will return for the third time.

Reynolds and Levy first worked together on Free Guy – the sci-fi comedy that was notoriously delayed for years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of that reputation, Free Guy was relatively successful when it was finally released last year. The duo teamed up again on The Adam Project – a sci-fi action-comedy that just dropped on Netflix on Friday.

Reynolds’ characters from Free Guy and The Adam Project stood side by side with Deadpool in his post on Friday, which had fans eager. One commented: “This is awesome! The perfect choice. You both made two truly incredible films together! Plus Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. This is going to be special!” Another added: “2/3 of these movies are masterpieces, I’m sure the 3rd one will be too.”

According to THR, Reese and Wernick are currently writing the script for Deadpool 3. The movie has been announced but is not in production yet, and there’s no word on when it might be released. The first two movies came out in 2016 and 2018 – both before Disney acquired Fox – and were R-rated. Some fans are nervous about Disney overseeing this character, fearing he will be watered down.

Deadpool is a Marvel Comics character created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. The character is a part of the X-Men universe, having been created in the same “Weapon X” military program that created Wolverine. It’s still not clear how Deadpool 3 will tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has yet to truly merge 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies with the existing continuity of Disney’s Avengers films.

The Adam Project is streaming now on Netflix, while Free Guy is streaming on HBO Max and Disney+. Deadpool and Deadpool 2 are streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned for updates on Deadpool 3 as they become available.