Although Joss Whedon has said he was never asked to be involved in the third X-Men movie following the departure of director Bryan Singer, one producer said not to count him out so early yet.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner recently spoke to CHUD's Devid Faraci on where "X-Men 3" is heading. In the interview, Donner said that she is a huge fan of Whedon, who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and co-created its spinoff, "Angel," and on why Whedon wasn't involved in the X-Men project: "Nothing is certain yet."

In an October conference call with fans as part of a political fundraiser, Whedon said that while rumors had abound that he was going to take over for Singer, Twentieth Century Fox had never approached him about it.

No matter who takes over, however, it appears that Famke Janssen may still have a place after Donner confirmed that the storyline of Phoenix -- the character Jean Grey evolved into after her death, according to comic book canon -- will be the focus of the third movie.

"It will follow the Dark Phoenix thread, with new storylines and characters," Donner said.

Work also has moved forward on a spinoff Wolverine movie that will star Hugh Jackman. Donner said there's a lot of difference between X-Men and another Marvel character, Spider-Man, as more characters create more separate storylines.

"It's different with Spider-Man because that has the one character, but X-Men has so many characters, you could take it longer, just as long as the movies have integrity and you're being honest to the fans and you're being honest to the characters," Donner said. "If you can still spin a good story, like Star Trek, if you can still go and make good movies, four, five or six, fine. I'm not against it. Just as long as we're never retreading and making old news. As long as we're always being fresh and there are great stories to mine ... as long as the comics go on, the movies can go on."