We Can Be Heroes is proving a hit for Netflix, 15 years afterwards the release of the movie it bridge-off from, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. That film starred Taylor Lautner and Taylor Dooley as the eponymous superheroes, but only Dooley returns for the new streaming movie. However, manager Robert Rodriguez has revealed exactly why the Twilight actor does non come back for the superhero sequel.

In We Tin Be Heroes, Lautner'due south character of Sharkboy is played by JJ Dashnaw, a stuntman who has worked with Rodriguez in multiple films like Sin Urban center, Spy Kids and Planet Terror. Notably, still, we exercise not see his face up in the pic as he is wearing a mask, and the graphic symbol does not take whatever lines.

This was commencement teased in summer 2020, when the managing director said during a Comic-Con@Habitation panel that, "The simply speaking role is for Lavagirl."

Per Rodriguez, he did permit Lautner know almost the function, but did not cast him in the movie out of respect for the actor. He told Decider: "I did call Taylor [Lautner] to let him know, 'At that place's no dialogue. It's not almost the parents. It's non really a sequel—you'd take your face covered the whole time...'In that location wasn't a large enough role for him to do.

taylor lautner we could be heroes
Taylor Lautner (rght) in 'The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl in 3D.' The actor did not return to the part for 'We Can Be Heroes.' Dimension Films

"It was fine if he couldn't be in it, because information technology would draw more attention to it. He became such a big star after Twilight that he would take an expectation. Could you imagine if he was in it, and then they see information technology and they're like, 'Wait! His confront is covered the whole time! Hey, he didn't have any dialogue!' It'd certainly expect similar a demerit against him, and I wouldn't want that. It wasn't well-nigh him, it was just to use the characters more than the actors."

Even so, the director did hint that the actor could return in a sequel to the movie. He said: "Maybe if this is really successful and there's a bigger play later, it'd be more worth his fourth dimension."

Partly, this was because the managing director does not see the film every bit a SharkBoy and LavaGirl sequel, but more like a kids ensemble superhero picture show that happens to have the adult versions of those two heroes as characters. This is something that Rodriguez has done before in opposite, with Danny Trejo actualization as Machete in the 4 Spy Kids films earlier spinning off to his own franchise.

Rodriguez alluded to this when he told Decide: "It started every bit an original film for Netflix—they asked me for an original film series in the vein of Spy Kids or Sharkboy and Lavagirl...Then selfishly, I could have one of the kids have a combination of their powers. Because I was creating all these new powers for kids for the motion-picture show, and I idea, 'Gosh, I wish I could use shark strength. We cracked the code 15 years ago.'... This kind of solved the problems, bringing them in every bit parents and being able to have a child that has both of their combined powers."

Since Rodriguez gave this interview, the motion-picture show has already been greenlit for a sequel, meaning that Lautner could exist set to appear—in what would be his first on-screen function since 2022 British comedy Cuckoo.

However, it may be that Lautner has moved on from the world of SharkBoy and LavaGirl. In June 2020, Entertainment Weekly published an oral history of the picture show, which Lautner declined to be interviewed for.

Although in previous years he has featured images from the set, which was his get-go major on-screen role at the historic period of 13, as throwback images on his Instagram.

We Tin Exist Heroes is streaming now on Netflix.