Rumors had been swirling about the return of Hugh Jackman as the iconic comic character, and late last night, Bryan Singer, via Twitter, confirmed with the following message:
I would officially like to welcome
@RealHughJackman to the cast of#XmenDays of Future Past. Very excited! More to come…
Days of Future Past takes place in both present time and a dystopian future wherein the X-Men were unable to stop the assassination of Sen. Robert Kelly, which led to a country run by Sentinels with mutants being kept in concentration camps. Kitty Pride finds a way to send her mind back to the present day in an attempt to work with the X-Men to change the course of the future.
Due to this time travel aspect, Bryan Singer has been working with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart to reprise their roles of older versions of Magneto and Professor X, respectively, and there is talk of getting some of the other actors from the original trilogy involved as well, thus linking the two film series and their continuity.
