Taron Egerton laughs off 'strange' Wolverine rumours

Taron Egerton says rumours linking him to the role of Wolverine are "strange" and feel "like a joke".

The Kingsman: The Secret Service star is regularly hit by gossip suggesting he could be in line to take over the X-Men character from Hugh Jackman - who has played Wolverine onscreen in various movies since 2000 - but Taron is adamant the speculation isn't based on anything solid and it resurfaces every time he strips off in a film.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "I feel like it happens every time I take my shirt off in a film. The truth of the matter is I don’t look like that when I take my shirt off, unless it’s in a film where the part needs me to look that way.

"The Wolverine thing is almost like a joke at this point. Every time I have a project come out, there’s a moment where people talk about it, and I’m the one person who is not qualified to talk about it.

"It’s quite strange, but it’s flattering. It’s always lovely to think that anybody would want you to play a beloved role, but I also think no one is ever going to accept anyone in that role other than Hugh Jackman. He’s completely synonymous with it."

In the interview, Taron also talked about his role in hit Netflix movie Carry-On, in which he played an airport Transportation Security Administration worker caught up in a blackmail plot on Christmas Eve, and insisted there are currently no plans for a sequel.

He said: "Carry-On 2 is really hard. It’s a celebration of Christmas and a celebration of people who work at Christmas.

"It then needs to have this huge plot that needs to be foiled and maybe the earwig component. All of that is quite hard to achieve in a sequel without it feeling contrived and to the point of defying credulity.

"So I have not heard anything, but who knows, stranger things have happened."

Taron also insisted the role hasn't made travelling through airports more difficult for him. He said: "I took a photo with a TSA agent at the Dallas airport a couple days ago when I was traveling here to New York, and that was a really nice bit of symmetry.

"But it’s not like it’s made travel impossible or anything. Generally, I get by pretty unnoticed."