10 Actors Who Refused To Return For Sequels To Acclaimed Films

An actor's career is quite often defined by the choices they make.

Will Smith knows this better than most as he has often found himself at a difficult crossroads when it comes to deciding on what direction he should take himself next. Back in the late 90's Smith famously turned down the chance to star in The Matrix (1999) as Neo in favour of appearing in Wild Wild West (1999)...and we all know how that turned out.

Yet, Smith was met with another tricky decision year laters when he was faced with two interesting options. Smith could either step into the fledgling DCEU as Deadshot in Suicide Squad (2016) or reprise the role of Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016).

In the end, Smith definitely understood that the world was obsessed with nostalgia at this point, but he preferred to move forward instead of clinging to his past and opted for Suicide Squad rather than the long awaited sequel to the crowd-pleasing Independence Day (1996).

Unfortunately for the actor, Suicide Squad didn't really take off in the way he would've hoped. But, Resurgence was also critically panned and earned half the money the DCEU flick made at the box office, so at least he chose the more commercially successful option. That's... something.