Ryan Reynolds welcomes Emma Corrin to the Deadpool family

Ryan Reynolds has welcomed The Crown star Emma Corrin to the "Deadpool family", announcing that they are set to star in the forthcoming third instalment.

Corrin, who played Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown’s season four and starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover alongside Jack O'Connell, has been confirmed as a new addition to the Deadpool 3 cast.

On Tuesday (14 February), Reynolds, who will reprise his title role as the foul-mouthed anti-hero, tweeted: "New addition to the family! The Deadpool family, for clarity. Which is just like a real family except with less swearing... Welcome, Emma Corrin!"

The Deadpool character first appeared on the big screen in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, before getting his own spin-off series.

Corrin, who uses they/them pronouns, is currently playing the title character in an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando at London's Garrick Theatre, directed by Michael Grandage.

News of their part in the third Deadpool film comes after Reynolds announced that Hugh Jackman will also be reprising his role as Wolverine.

Jackman, who played the Marvel character in eight X-Men films from 2000 until 2016, was last seen as Wolverine in standalone movie Logan in 2017.

He made a brief appearance in the second Deadpool instalment, but had previously ruled out the chance of a crossover film between his character and Reynolds' unlikely superhero.

The second sequel will be directed by Shawn Levy, who worked with Reynolds on 2021 action comedy Free Guy and newly released 2022 sci-fi The Adam Project.

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It is another change of director for the Marvel franchise, with the original 2016 Deadpool directed by Tim Miller and the sequel by David Leitch.

It is also the first Deadpool film since Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which distributed the first two instalments.

Reynolds previously confirmed Deadpool 3 will release in cinemas on 6 September 2024.

Additional reporting by Press Association