Back in May, it was revealed that Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney filmed a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. But when the movie hit theaters, Rob McElhenney’s cameo was nowhere to be seen. Turns out, the cameo was cut from the film… And Reynolds was “mortified” to make him fly all the way out to film the spot.
In a lengthy post on Instagram on August 24, Reynolds explained the excised cameo. It featured McElhenney as a TVA (Time Variance Authority) soldier who gets eaten by cloud monster Alioth in Cassandra Nova‘s (Emma Corrin) domain.
“A word on my “darling” friend, @robmcelhenney,” Reynolds wrote. “Rob very kindly did a cameo in #DeadpoolAndWolverine which will hopefully live on in the digital extras. While editing a movie, they say you ‘sometimes have to kill your darlings.’ And with a heavy heart (and through great outside intervention) I had to kill a darling with this cameo…
“The sequence wasn’t working the way we’d originally constructed it. Rob was the only reason it stayed in the cut for as long as it did, because even under a TVA mask and helmet, you can feel him smoldering with a raw and almost infinite reservoir of talent, writerly wit and ‘I create hit tv shows’ swagger. Don’t even get me started on Wrexham. I wouldn’t know a love like @wrexham_afc if it weren’t for Rob McElhenney.”
In case you don’t watch the documentary show Welcome to Wrexham, the It’s Always Sunny creator and Deadpool impresario co-own the team. They often pop in for more staged segments where they joke about their fame and each other. It was during one of these segments that it was revealed McElhenney would be making a cameo, though dressed in a large, puffy coat it wasn’t possible to tell what his role was. Turns out TVA, and as Reynolds continued, even if the cameo didn’t make the movie it was helpful to have his co-star/co-owner on set.
“Anyway, I loved making this movie but it wasn’t without stress,” Reynolds wrote. “There was a lot of expectation — and I’m pretty sure the most well written villain in cinema history is ‘Expectation”. And when you do stressful stuff, it feels good when friends are nearby. And even though I’m mortified he flew all the way to London for a cameo that wasn’t meant to be, I’m grateful my friend was there with me on that set. When I see Rob, my heart-rate slows and my nervous system stops yelling at me. He shows up for people. And he showed up for me.”
Reynolds ends the post by going to bat for McElhenney to play Hydra Bob, a regular joe character who works for the evil organization Hydra, but becomes sort of a sidekick for Deadpool in the Marvel comics source material. And as for McElhenney, he seemed touched by the post, adding, “How am I supposed to go back to writing d*k jokes today?” with a little crying emoji in response.
Cute! Here’s hoping we do see these cut extras on the Blu-Ray release.
