Brie Larson Not Returning for '22 Jump Street'

So far, 2013 has been fairly quiet for Brie Larson, but things are about to blow up for her in a really big way. She's already received raves on the festival circuit for her breakthrough performance in the SXSW award-winning drama Short Term 12, along with appearing in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut Don Jon, and in just a few days she has a critical role in James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now. She's definitely on the rise and a lot of directors are eager to work with her, but unfortunately the directors behind one of her most popular films, 21 Jump Street, won't be needing her services in the sequel.

While talking to ScreenCrush, Larson revealed that she won't be returning for more R-rated cop fun in 22 Jump Street, which has Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's characters headed off to college. Larson has previously expressed some enthusiasm about reprising her role, but it was during a recent meeting with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller where she learned the news...

Larson: "After speaking with them, it’s not something I’m going to be a part of anymore than just in spirit. I will be a virtual cheerleader for those boys doing it again. And I’ll be so happy to see the movie and laugh as hard as I did during the first one."

Based on that it may sound as if she made a calculated decision not to return, perhaps due to a busy schedule, but actually the choice was taken out of her hands...

Larson:  "It’s not necessarily my choice. It’s not like they said, ‘Would you do it?’ and I said, ‘No.’ That’s just the way the story goes."

With the guys taking their gig to university it probably would have been a stretch to include Larson's character, anyway, but this is still disappointing news. But she's got a lot to keep her busy as she'll be filming Relanxious with Olivia Wilde soon, and has just wrapped on the Bollywood musical Basmati Blues.