Though Matt Smith was recently spending time playing royalty in Netflix’s The Crown, he’s headed back to genre territory soon. Just maybe not in the project you were hoping to see him in.
In an interview with the LA Times, Smith seemingly denied having a role in the recently-wrapped Star Wars: Episode IX.
The original casting report was from Variety which stated it would be a “key role” for the British actor. But he says, “As far as I can tell, I’m definitely not [in it].”
So, do you believe him? Actors have been known to lie of course, and it was a coyly-worded denial.
The cast for the final instalment of the Skywalker saga was pretty loaded already — with Lord of the Rings and Lost star Dominic Monaghan, and The Americans’ Keri Russell joining officially — so it almost seemed too good to be true. We’ll wait and see…
The former Doctor Who star is, however, officially involved in the Jared Leto-led Morbius film for Sony. He still can’t reveal who he’s playing — though we can probably rest assured it’s someone in Spider-Man lore — but he has his former co-star to thank for it. Smith said Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Nebula, Karen Gillan, gave him the nudge:
“I can’t tell you her exact advice to me — I’d have to kill you. But she told me that she really likes it, making those movies. That was enough for me.
“And that’s been my experience so far. I really like the director, Daniel Espinosa, on [‘Morbius’]. I’ve kind of waited [comic book movies] out a bit. I nearly did one last year and then I didn’t. This one felt right because of him.”
Any guesses on who Smith might be?
The still unnamed Star Wars: Episode IX will hit cinemas on December 19 this year. Morbius is due for release in 2020.