Hugh Jackman turned down the role of James BondImage Source: movieweb.com

Daniel Craig will return as James Bond in 2019, despite having claimed that he’d “rather slash [his] wrists” than take up the role again. It was later found out that one of the reasons he didn’t want to return as 007 was his disappointment working with director Sam Mendes who helmed the two previous Bond flicks Skyfall and Spectre.

SEE: Who Played James Bond: A Complete History

The 2019 Bond film will be the fifth time Daniel Craig plays the iconic role of MI6 agent James Bond. He first took the role back in 2006 after the departure of previous Bond Pierce Brosnan. According to Hugh Jackman, however, Craig wasn’t the first to be offered the iconic role back in the early 2000’s.

In an interview with Variety, Jackman said, “I was about to do X-Men 2, and a call came from my agent asking if I’d be interested in Bond.” Jackman declined the offer saying “I just felt the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real.”

Jackman also explained that he wanted freedom in his career to do different things, saying that always playing the hero felt “a little bit claustrophobic”.