Reynolds co-owns Wrexham AFC with McElhenney and stars in 'Deadpool and Wolverine' with Jackman.
Hugh Jackman may be an award-winning singer, dancer and actor, but according to his longtime pal and collaborator, Ryan Reynolds, he's one of the most territorial friends a person can have.
Talking with ET's Rachel Smith ahead of the season 3 premiere of Welcome to Wrexham, Reynolds, 47, opened up about his dueling bromances with the 55-year-old Logan actor and his Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney. The Red Notice actor joked that it may have taken Jackman some time to understand he isn't the only man in Reynolds' life after McElhenney, 47, purchased the Welsh soccer team back in 2020.
"Oh, he's a very jealous person," Reynolds said of his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star. "It's a real proprietary sense of meaning in everything I do... [I'm] just Hugh's little meat puppet."
In all seriousness, Reynolds and McElhenney told ET that it did not take Jackman a long time at all to get on board with McElhenney as a new member of Reynolds' inner circle. The actors shared that a three-way friendship came organically to them, thanks in large part to McElhenney's own long-running FX comedy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
"He was actually a big It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan," Reynolds shared of Jackman. "So this is kind of his match made in heaven for him."
Reynolds and McElhenney added that their own financial investment into the U.K. soccer team -- by all accounts a risky and costly endeavor -- has only helped strengthen their own friendship, as well as the bonds with their other friends and loved ones (Jackman included) who have become Wrexham fans.
"He loves Wrexham," The Adam Project star said. "He follows along from home. Yeah, it's kind of a family affair."
"Hugh actually came to our first game of the season this year, which was our first game in the EFL (English Football League)," McElhenney added. "We just plain old got our as*es smacked, and he was there to watch every second of it."
While the team may have stumbled a bit early in the season, Reynolds and McElhenney have been praised widely by longtime Wrexham fans and observers worldwide for helping to bring the team back to the English Football League after a 15-year absence. The team had long been relegated to the National League -- the lowest of the five club rankings in the country.
The co-owners said the moment of victory was one they will never forget, especially after forging connections with every single member of the team and staff and meeting with Wrexham residents and fans who watched in anticipation after they purchased the club for $2.5 million nearly four years ago.
"I don't think I've ever experienced relief like that when we got out of the National League," Reynolds shared of the heart-stopping win that clinched the team an EFL spot, as documented in the show's second season.
"[We're] so proud of the players, the entire organization and the talent for sticking with the club for as long as they have -- for generations, but really, the past 15 years of struggling to try to get out the [National] league," McElhenney said. "To see them finally do it, it's truly a testament to their willingness to fight through adversity."
Following the release of season 2, Reynolds spoke with ET at a Welcome to Wrexham FYC event in 2023 and joked that despite the constant stress of being a team owner, it's still only the second hardest job in his life -- the first being a father. The actor shares four children with wife Blake Lively.
"I don't know. [At least] a soccer team will flush a toilet from time to time," Reynolds joked at the time.
Welcome to Wrexham's third season premieres on FX and Hulu on May 2.
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