The X-Men role Millie Bobby Brown nearly played alongside Hugh Jackman

Here's a fun bit of almost-Hollywood history you might not have clocked: Millie Bobby Brown, yes, Eleven herself from Stranger Things, was once close to landing a role in a Marvel film. And not just any Marvel film—she nearly joined Hugh Jackman in Logan, the X-Men spinoff that's generally seen as a cut above the usual superhero fare.

Millie’s Marvel Miss

In a recent chat with Louis Partridge for Entertainment Weekly, Brown let slip that she auditioned for the role of X-23, the ferocious young mutant who practically stole the show in Logan. And she didn’t just send in a self-tape and hope for the best—she got as far as screen testing alongside Jackman himself, when she was barely old enough for secondary school. Here's how Brown put it:

'I screentested with Hugh Jackman when I was like, 11 or 12.'

The part, as fans will know, ultimately went to Dafne Keen, who put in a pretty feral performance as Laura (X-23). Brown was, as you might imagine, a bit gutted not to get it:

'Broken. I felt like I probably didn’t get it, because I think there was someone else that was better.'

Logan dropped in 2017, about a year after Stranger Things made her a household name. In a bit of a curious loop, Keen has now reprised Laura in Deadpool & Wolverine, which landed in 2024 and saw Jackman suiting up as Wolverine again (because apparently, he just can’t say no to putting those claws back on for Ryan Reynolds).

X-23, Awards, and What Brown Did Next

Looking back, Logan turned out to be both a critical darling and a bit of a swansong for Jackman’s X-Men tenure. The film bagged an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay—no mean feat for a superhero flick—and was widely seen as the last hurrah for Jackman, until, of course, that Marvel multiverse money came knocking again. Keen’s turn as X-23, let’s be honest, set a high bar; anyone who’s seen it knows it would’ve been a tall order for even the most precocious actors.

• Brown: Auditioned for X-23 circa age 11-12, screen tested with Hugh Jackman, didn’t land the part
• Dafne Keen: Got the role, played X-23 in Logan (2017), returned for Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
• Hugh Jackman: Supposedly retired from Wolverine post-Logan, came back anyway for Deadpool’s big team-up

Since being passed over for the Marvel gig, Brown’s done rather well for herself. Yes, she’s still leading Stranger Things, but she’s also fronted the Enola Holmes films as Sherlock’s kid sister, popped up in the Godzilla monster-verse, and nabbed a part in the Russo brothers’ The Electric State. She actually got her start on TV back in 2013 with Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, if you can even remember that one.

For fans tracking her next move, she’ll soon turn up again with her on-screen dad from Stranger Things, David Harbour, in a fresh Netflix project.