David Benioff was hired to pen the screenplay for the spin-off film in October 2004. Benioff was a comic book fan and had pursued the project for two years. In preparing to write the script, he reread Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X story (1991), as well as Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's Wolverine limited series (1982). Jackman collaborated with Benioff on the script, which aims to be more of a character piece compared with the previous X-Men films. In October 2006 the script was completed, and Jackman stated there would be a year before shooting, as he was scheduled to start filming another film, Australia in 2007.

Gavin Hood was announced as director of the project in July 2007 for a 2008 release. Previously, Brett Ratner, Len Wiseman, Bryan Singer and Alexandre Aja all expressed interest in the film. Hood explained that while he was not a comic book fan, he "realized that the character of Wolverine, I think his great appeal lies in the fact that he's someone who in some ways, is filled with a great deal of self-loathing by his own nature and he's constantly at war with his own nature." The director described the film's themes as focusing on Wolverine's inner struggle between his animalistic savagery and noble human qualities. Hood enjoyed the previous films, but is set on giving the spin-off a different feel.

In October, Fox announced a May 1, 2009 release date, and that the film's title would be X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Fox also issued a "major SOS" to the leading agencies in order to find someone who would be able to perform a speedy rewrite of the script before the 2007–08 Writers' Guild of America strike. James Vanderbilt and Scott Silver took the task of finishing the script before the strike began.

Shooting will begin in January 2008 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, before moving to New Zealand and New Orleans. The shoot will last up until June, because of potential reshoots on Jackman's other project, Australia. In October 2007, Harry Gregson-Williams signed on as composer.