‘Men in Black’ is coming back, but this beloved actor isn’t *sad face*

We ALL loved Men in Black when it came out in 1997 (and if you didn’t, come on! There are aliens! Humans who are really aliens that look like bugs! Guys in dapper black suits! And there was a sassy, talking pug named Frank!). Basically, the movie about two guys protecting the world from aliens was a staple of our childhood, and best of all? It starred Will Smith (and, OK, Tommy Lee Jones), who basically WAS the Men in Blackfranchise. (IMHO.)

Which is why this news of another Men in Black movie is bittersweet. We’re excited that we’re getting a fourth installment of Men in Black —the fourth MIB film is already being produced and will be in theaters sometime in the next couple of years. But the bad news? Though we love the heck out of Smith, he will not star in the film. That’s right — no J in this one.

Men in Black III was a surprising success when it came out in 2012 and the producers always knew there would be a fourth since MIB is the perfect type of film for a franchise and not just one or two fantastic movies. So why is Smith not going to be a part of the next MIB installment? According to Music Times, Walter Parkes, one of the show’s original producers, commented that Smith was “most likely [a] no” for the fourth film. BET has stated that Smith is more focused on films of “prestige” like his new movie Concussion. 

Though I am ALL FOR Smith getting his overdue Oscar (HELLO! Was I the only one who saw Ali??), I also am going to hold my little breath for at least a cameo from him in MIB4. If worse comes to worse, I will settle for Smith doing a song. We got two out of him and I would very much like a third.

Hopefully we still have Tommy Lee Jones. I can’t imagine MIB without either of them!

OR maybe JADEN SMITH WILL TAKE HIS DAD’S PLACE INSTEAD? Okay, okay. Now I am getting ahead of myself.

(Featured image Columbia Pictures GIF via)