Why Taylor Lautner Didn’t Return As Sharkboy In We Can Be Heroes

Taylor Lautner explains why he opted not to return as Sharkboy for Robert Rodriguez’s We Can Be Heroes. Lautner is best known for playing Jacob Black, the third point on The Twilight Saga‘s central love triangle, but he’s also built up a solid filmography over the years. He’s put in series regular roles on shows like Scream Queens and Cuckoo, and his biggest role before Twilight came in Rodriguez’s The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Lautner’s sharp-toothed hero was the perfect partner for Taylor Dooley’s bright-eyed Lavagirl, and they both had an impact on many childhoods.

That’s why so many fans were stunned when Lautner didn’t reprise his Sharkboy for the Netflix film We Can Be Heroes. Released on the streamer at the very end of 2020, We Can Be Heroes largely focuses on several new characters, many of whom are the children of superheroes. However, in a fun twist for fans, Rodriguez set the film in his Sharkboy and Lavagirl universe and brought back the titular pair. Dooley returned to play Lavagirl, but Lautner sat out the film, much to the internet’s dismay. Instead, JJ Dashnaw took over.

Screen Rant recently got the chance to sit down with Lautner ahead of his new movie Home Team. During the conversation, the subject of We Can Be Heroes came up, and he revealed why he didn’t play Sharkboy. It mostly came down to timing and what Lautner wanted to pursue at the time. He said:

You know, it just was during a point in my life where I took a step back, and I kind of, don’t wanna tie this back to the movie, but kind of like Sean in [Home Team], I took a step back to focus on things that were important in my life, and that was my family and my friends and my fiancée. But yeah, the timing just wasn’t right for me, but I mean, Sharkboy will forever have a very special place in my heart.

We Can Be Heroes came at a time when Lautner took a pause from acting. Home Team is his first onscreen credit since Cuckoo ended in 2018, and audiences will surely be excited to see him back. While watching Lautner suit up as Sharkboy alongside Dooley would’ve been a treat for those who grew up with the characters, his reason for stepping back makes sense. Sometimes, our priorities lie elsewhere, and Lautner recognized that. And so, the mystery of why Sharkboy had to be recast has been solved.

With that matter settled, the question now becomes: Could Lautner appear in We Can Be Heroes 2? The first movie was such a success that Netflix greenlit a sequel days after its debut. Rodriguez said We Can Be Heroes 2 would start filming sometime in 2022, so there’s still time for Lautner to sign on – provided he hasn’t already. His presence would only make the We Can Be Heroes sequel more exciting. For now, this is just wishful thinking, but when it comes to Hollywood, anything can happen.

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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