‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ Adds Salma Hayek in Thandiwe Newton’s Role, Who Had To Depart Due to Family Reasons

Salma Hayek joins Magic Mike 3

Thandiwe Newton, who was set to play the lead in the third Magic Mike movie, had to drop out just as filming began to attend family matters. Salma Hayek will be replacing her.

 

This was confirmed by a Warner Bros. spokesperson, who told Variety the following:

 

“Thandiwe Newton has made the difficult decision to step away from the production of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance to deal with family matters.”

 

Newton was set to play the female lead of the third Magic Mike film, which Channing Tatum himself described to Variety as “really strong, almost stronger than Mike … we’ve never done a traditional love story, and this isn’t a traditional love story.” Hayek is now stepping in, coming off a very intense end of 2021 with roles in Marvel Studios’ Eternals and Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci.

 

Tatum will be back in the role alongside most of the classic team. Even Matthew McConaughey wants in, as he told Variety earlier this year. Steven Soderbergh is back in the director’s chair, with Reid Carolin penning the script once again. She also had something to say about the female lead back in February:

 

“It’s really about a woman stuck at a horrible strip show like a Chippendales and then realizing, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’. And then Magic Mike comes down from the ceiling. She gets to go down the rabbit hole and asks: What do I really want?”

 

The movie is made exclusively for HBO Max, as Deadline revealed earlier this year, and production just kicked off in the U.K. At the time, Toby Emmerich, Chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said the following:

 

“Is there anybody on screen more charismatic and appealing than Magic Mike? We’re thrilled to be back in business with Channing, Steven and their creative team to bring back Magic Mike’s wonderful combination of dance, drama, romance and humor.”

 

Channing Tatum added:

 

“There are no words for how excited I am to blow the doors off of the world of Magic Mike with Steven, Greg, Reid, and the amazing people at HBO Max.”

 

The first two films grossed around $300M worldwide and inspired a very popular live stage show.