Director Confirms Matthew McConaughey Will Be Abs-sent From 'Magic Mike' Sequel

Matthew McConaughey in ‘Magic Mike’

Yesterday we reported that walking special-effect Joe Manganiello is hitting the gym to prep for his return engagement as Big Dick Ritchie in Magic Mike XXL, the follow-up to 2012’s hit stripper-saga Magic Mike. Now there’s some less scintillating news: In case there was any doubt, our favorite shirt-free strutter, Matthew McConaughey, definitely won’t be greasing up for the sequel.

RELATED: Four Things We Know About the ‘Magic Mike’ Sequel

The report comes from Indiewire, who interviewed XXL’s director Gregory Jacobs, a longtime lieutenant of Magic Mike director Steven Soderbergh, who’ll be acting as cinematographer and editor on the new film. Jacobs confirmed that McConaughey wouldn’t be reprising his role as Dallas, the charming older lounge lizard who tried to exploit the film’s hero Mike (Channing Tatum).

Jacobs also promised that the sequel would be very different from the original, without providing much detail. “What am I allowed to say?” he said. “It’s a road trip movie and put it this way, it’s different enough that once you see it you’ll understand why we made a sequel. No one will be accusing us of making the same movie twice.”

Tatum, who also co-wrote the script with Reid Carolin, will return for XXL, as will Manganiello and Matt Bomer. (The movie is scheduled to hit theaters next July.) One name that hasn’t been coming up though is Magic Mike costar Alex Pettyfer, who played Mike’s protégé at the strip club. After the first movie, the rumor mill churned out reports of tensions on set.

Watch a clip of McConaughey in Magic Mike:

Photo credit: AP Photo/Warner Bros., Claudette Barius