Among the Star Wars: Episode IX casting news that arrived in the run-up to filming the saga’s next entry, one of the most intriguing additions was Matt Smith – a former Time Lord, swapping sci-fi universes and blasting off to a galaxy far, far away in a role that, as with all things Star Wars, is being held tightly under wraps. Except, now the actor has claimed that he’s not in the film. Speaking to the LA Times, Smith stated that he’s not part of Episode IX: “As far as I can tell, I’m definitely not.”
Considering Smith was originally reported as having a ‘key’ role to play in the trilogy-capper, it’s an unexpected walk-back – though considering his years of sci-fi secret-keeping, it could be that he is in the film and is simply playing his cards close to his chest for now. With nary so much as a title confirmed for Episode IX so far, it’s not like he could say anything about the Last Jedi sequel at this stage, even if he wanted to. Elsewhere among the new recruits for JJ Abrams’ film are the likes of Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Dominic Monaghan, and Naomi Ackie.
Smith is currently shooting Morbius, Sony’s next Spider-Man-adjacent Marvel movie following the success of Venom. This one stars Jared Leto as the comics’ ‘living vampire’ with Smith reported to play a significant role. Star Wars: Episode IX arrives (with or without Smith) on 20 December 2019, while Morbius will go in for the kill on 31 July 2020.
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