In een interview met The Playlist sprak regisseur James Mangold over zijn plannen met de eerstvolgende X-Men spin-off film The Wolverine, waarvan de opnames volgend jaar moeten starten.

Over de reden waarom hij de opvolger van X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) wil regisseren: "It's a kind of adventure following such a unique character also in a really unique environment." Mangold legt de lat klaarblijkelijk hoog: "I mean, the fact that half of the characters in this movie speak Japanese, this is like a foreign-language superhero movie that's as much a drama and a detective story and a film noir, with high-octane action as it is anything like a conventional tentpole film."

Mangold zegt het geplaagde filmproject grondig te hebben doorgenomen met de eerder opgestapte regisseur Darren Aronofsky, aangezien het script dezelfde is maar wel op meerdere punten is aangepast. Hij vergelijkt het met klassiekers als The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) en Chinatown (1974).

De regisseur die bekend is van films als 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Girl, Interrupted (1999) en Cop Land (1997) vervolgt: "[It's] much more about Logan getting lost in this very unique and insulated world of Japanese culture, gangster culture, and ninja culture. The fighting is going to be unique because it's all influenced by Japanese martial arts... I think more than anything, it's a character piece, asking really interesting questions that are what pulled me in about what it means to be immortal. What is it to live forever, when you lose everyone you've ever loved? Either you watch them get killed, or you just lose them by attrition. What is it to feel the burden of saving mankind through all of its mistakes, over and over and over again. What's the toll it takes on you as a living being that is somehow living this Frankensteinian, eternal life?"