--- description: Director Greg Jacobs says the newly minted Oscar winner won't return for the upcoming sequel, due out July 1, 2015 title: Matthew McConaughey Not Returning for Magic Mike XXL image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22f4aee6028645c0/6986a3f1cd804d1cfacccd1e/148191756.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Matthew McConaughey Will Not Be in the _Magic Mike_ Sequel by [Eric Dodds](/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 1:24 PM CUT  Remember the good times. Remember the good times.Anita Bugge—WireImage by [Eric Dodds](/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 1:24 PM CUT You may want to brace yourself for this one. Despite writer and star Channing Tatum’s [earlier claims to the contrary](http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/magic-mike-2-set-for-july-4th-weekend-2015-channing-tatum-says-entire-cast-returning-20140415 "undefined"), _Magic Mike XXL_ director Greg Jacobs revealed [in an interview with The Playlist](http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/exclusive-matthew-mcconaughey-wont-be-back-for-magic-mike-xxl-director-says-sequel-will-be-very-different-20140917 "undefined") that Matthew McConaughey will not be returning for the sequel to the 2012 surprise hit. Though it would be premature to say that McConaughey’s absence will be a huge blow to the film, it’s no reach to say that Dallas ( the charismatic manipulator that McConaughey played in the original movie) was one of the main attractions in _Magic Mike_. Coupled with the so-called “retirement” of director Steven Soderbergh (who will still serve as director of photography, editor and camera operator on the sequel), it seems that _Magic Mike XXL_ will have a somewhat different vibe than the original. “It’s road trip movie,” Jacobs said. “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.” That Jacobs and writers Tatum and Reid Carolin don’t want to simply re-make the original is encouraging (see: _The Hangover II_), but it just won’t be the same without McConaughey. It’s now abundantly clear that [those Lincoln commercials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoGGDKV88Fg "undefined") were simply designed to give us fond flashbacks of _True Detective_ and a furtive taste of the _Magic Mike XXL_ road trip he’ll never take. Magic Mike XXL began preliminary shooting earlier this month and is currently slated for a July 1, 2015 release. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3397804/matthew-mcconaughey-magic-mike/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3397804/matthew-mcconaughey-magic-mike/"},"headline":"Matthew McConaughey Will Not Be in the Magic Mike Sequel","datePublished":"2014-09-18T13:24:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:16:13.754Z","description":"Director Greg Jacobs says the newly minted Oscar winner won't return for 2015's Magic Mike XXL","url":"https://time.com/3397804/matthew-mcconaughey-magic-mike/","keywords":["movies","Matthew McConaughey","Channing Tatum"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22f4aee6028645c0/6986a3f1cd804d1cfacccd1e/148191756.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Dodds","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22f4aee6028645c0/6986a3f1cd804d1cfacccd1e/148191756.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey at a \"Magic Mike\" photocall","caption":"Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey at a \"Magic Mike\" photocall","creditText":"Anita Bugge—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3397804/matthew-mcconaughey-magic-mike/","name":"Matthew McConaughey Will Not Be in the Magic Mike Sequel"}}]}] ```