Magic Mike first dropped, rolled and gyrated its way into cinemas back in 2012 to critical and commercial success, with a sequel following a few years later. Now, seven years after Magic Mike XXL and the movie developing into a live show, the third installment is on its way. But alas, despite lead actor Channing Tatum’s wishes, we are not going to be seeing him in old man prosthetics any time soon.
Tatum revealed in a tweet back in November that a third outing was in the works, titled Magic Mike’s Last Dance. The image shows that the original film’s writer, Reid Carolin, and director Steven Soderbergh, are also on board. Tatum had previously said he wasn’t interested in getting back into a spangly g-string, stating on The Kelly Clarkson Show that he struggles to get back into the shape required for the character, “It’s hard to look like, even if you do work out, to be that kind of in shape is not natural,” adding “you have to starve yourself.”
After the first film, Tatum wasn’t sure there would be another one, telling IndieWire, “We didn’t plan on making a second one. Then, all of our ancillary characters were so good and fun that we felt like, ‘Let’s do another movie and give those characters more real estate that we didn’t have before.’ Once we did that, we felt like there was no other story.” Up until this announcement, the actor hadn’t expressed any interest in doing another, but says, “the only one I said I’d actually do — before we decided on this version — was the “Grumpy Old Men” version when we’re like 70. When we’re 70, I want to get the team back together, for sure.”
Well, we might have to wait for that version in the future then! Until then, though, we have Magic Mike’s Last Dance to look forward to. So far we don’t know whether any other original cast members will be coming back, and seeing as the script has only just been announced, it’s safe to say we will have to wait a while before we get any more news.
Tatum is currently running the press circuit to promote his new movie Dog, in cinemas now.