‘Logan’ Update: New Image Confirms Dafne Keen is Playing Laura A.K.A. X-23
The Instagram account for the "Logan" film released a black-and-white portrait of Dafne Keen, the young actress who appears in the "Logan" trailer. The caption reads, "Laura," seemingly confirming that she'll play Laura Kinney, a.k.a. X-23.
Last week, "Logan" director James Mangold spoke with Empire about the film's first teaser trailer. While at the time he refused to confirm reports claiming the girl spotted in the teaser was Laura, he did shed light on where Logan fits into the overall "X-Men" timeline, according to IGN.
X-23 became a fan favorite, and "X-Men: Apocalypse" director Bryan Singer even teased during an interview with Fandango that he pitched Fox on the concept of a female Wolverine. The "Loga"n trailer all but confirmed Keen as the character when Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier called her the "cub" to Wolverine's "lone wolf."
In the comics, a secret organization attempted to recreate the Weapon X experiment, the same excruciating procedure that imbued Wolverine with his signature adamantium skeleton. Unable to find a test subject capable of surviving the experiment, they decided to create a clone of Logan. That clone was Laura Kinney, who was raised in captivity to become a ferocious weapon with two-pronged claws instead of Wolverine's three.
Although technically, Laura Kinney was created by a Weapon X offshoot of The Facility, not Sinister's Essex Corporation, fans have speculated for years that Sinister had something to do with the creation of X-23, or even was Facility director Martin Sutter or his underling Zander Rice in disguise. Since many comic book films often take something from the comic lore and blend them into the film, Mangold and writer David James Kelly could be playing fast and loose not just with the Old Man Logan source material, but also with Kinney's origins.
Originally developed for the animated show "X-Men: Evolution," the character of Laura become popular in the Marvel Universe. "Logan" is directed by James Mangold and will feature Hugh Jackman as the titular mutant. Hugh Jackman's final outing as Wolverine is set to hit theaters on March 3, 2017.
