Ryan Reynolds has shared the unexpected positive to last year’s delayed Deadpool 3 filming as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Filming on the third Deadpool instalment began in May last year, but production was shut down in July when the strike was announced to comply with guidelines. Deadpool 3 filming then resumed again in late winter, shortly after the strike ended on November 7.

Speaking at the Deadpool & Wolverine press conference today attended by Digital Spy, Reynolds said that the filming pause was somewhat of a blessing, allowing them time and energy to “better tell the story”.

“If you could, from a fiscal point of view, stop a movie right in the middle, assess everything you have, edit the hour of footage you have, put it together and then just smooth it out,” he begins.

“One of the things I realised I’m so lucky to have in this partnership with Shawn [Levy] and Hugh [Jackman] is this ability to pivot, and we do this constantly. We’re all mindful of budgets and time constraints, but I love the dumpster diving, scavenge and use every opportunity – good or bad – to better tell the story.

“Many constraints were used for our own benefit. Coming back after the strike, we had entire character arcs.”

Director Shawn Levy agreed that the filming break enabled them to really deliver the true crux of what Deadpool & Wolverine should be.

“We talk a lot about, ‘You gotta listen to your movie’,” he said. “Whatever your initial intentions, listen to your movie and it’s going to tell you want it wants to be. We edited the hour of the movie that we had shot, so we were able to sit and listen to our movie.”

The Crown actor Emma Corrin, who appears as supervillain Cassandra Nova in the third movie, also shared how the production hiatus served their character portrayal.

Marvel Studios
“We all watched it,” they said of the first edit. “I hadn’t started shooting yet. I was meant to start in the summer and then the strike happened. When I came back, I watched the film and it said, ‘Cassandra here’.

“It was incredible,” they continued. “I got to see what the movie was. You shoot out of chronological order all the time, which can be quite confusing on your first day. I could literally be what you wanted her to be and who you needed her to be in moments in terms of this epic narrative arc. It was incredible.”

As a result of the filming delay, Marvel ended up pushing Deadpool 3’s release date back from May to July 2024. Audiences will finally be able to see the highly-anticipated threequel – with Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine – later this month.