Christopher McQuarrie, the writer of The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie, has been tapped to write the sequel to Wolverine: Origins, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to write the script for Fox’s sequel to its “Wolverine” movie.

Hugh Jackman is set to return as the Marvel Comics character, a mutant with healing powers and a skeleton laced with the indestructible metal known as adamantium. Jackman is also producing via his Fox-based Seed shingle along with Lauren Shuler Donner.

The movie’s story line will take its cue from the early 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller miniseries, which is set in Japan and features Wolverine dealing with ninjas as he struggles whether to follow his animal killer instincts or the life under a samurai’s code of honor and respect.

We actually spoke to Claremont yesterday about the Wolverine sequel and he offered himself up for the screenplay and shared his thoughts with us about it. (Part 1 of the video interview is here, the full audio can be downloaded from the Geek Show Podcast’s iTunes feed here.) When we post that portion of video from the interview, we’ll have a transcript to go with it.

In the meantime, I think this is good news. McQuarrie is a competent writer and I’ve enjoyed most of his movies. The ones he directed? Not so much, but I like him.

So, take this as you will.