Bryan Singer says he wants to return to the X-Men franchise. Of course he does. While Singer has several projects lined up — a potential Excalibur remake/update, that Battlestar Galactica feature, and what should be his next, Jack the Giant Killer — the director now says he’s interested in going back to the superhero franchise with which he had such success in X-Men and X2. But what does that mean for the series?

Speaking at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, Singer said (as reported by THR):

I’m still looking to possibly returning to the ‘X-Men’ franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it. I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast.

This may be just fan-appeasing talk on Singer’s part. But taking it seriously for a minute, what film could he make? Based on everything we know, X-Men: First Class is the film that’s up next, with a spring shoot currently planned. Unless Singer bails on Jack the Giant Killer entirely, there’s really no chance he could take that on.

But there is that Wolverine sequel that may not re-hire Gavin Hood as director. And the related Deadpool film may need a helmer, too.

There’s also a possible fourth ‘real’ X-Men film. That would be the obvious place for Singer to return, as he could pick up the reigns of the franchise and start semi-clean. So many characters were killed off in X3, and so many remaining ones might want more money than Fox would be willing to pay, that Singer would have to either re-build his team or re-cast it. The former isn’t out of the question — rebuilding the team is pretty much the cornerstone of the X-Men universe — and would be a chance to get some more fun mutants on screen. But Singer did mention Hugh Jackman specifically, so look for that to be taken as an indication that he’d be interested in the second Wolverine film.