Hugo Weaving prevented from starring in Matrix reboot by scheduling conflicts

Hugo Weaving will not appear in 'The Matrix' reboot because of scheduling issues.

The 59-year-old actor was offered the chance to reprise his role as Agent Smith in the upcoming film but filming for the sci-fi series - which will return with a fourth film in 2021 - clashed with his starring role in the theatre production of 'The Visit'.

Hugo admits that he was keen to work on both projects, but 'The Matrix' director Lana Wachowski "changed her mind" and began working on the film without him.

In an interview with Time Out magazine, Hugo said: "It's unfortunate but actually I had this offer (for The Visit) and then the offer came from The Matrix, so I knew it was happening but I didn't have dates. I thought I could do both and it took eight weeks to work out that the dates would work - I held off on accepting a role in 'The Visit' during that time. I was in touch with Lana Wachowski, but in the end she decided that the dates weren't going to work. So we'd sorted the dates and then she sort of changed her mind. They're pushing on ahead without me."

Meanwhile, 'The Lord of the Rings' star also revealed that he didn't play Marvel villain Red Skull in the final two Avengers films because of contractual issues.

Hugo voiced the character in 'Captain America: The First Avenger' but the role was taken by 'The Walking Dead' star Ross Marquand in both 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'Avengers: Endgame'.

He explained: "I loved playing that character Red Skull - it was a lot of fun. We were all obliged to sign up for three pictures: I was thinking Red Skull probably wouldn't come back in Captain America but he may well come back as a villain in The Avengers. By then, they'd pushed back on the contracts that we agreed on and so the money they offered me for The Avengers was much less than I got for the very first one, and this was for two films. And the promise when we first signed the contracts was that the money would grow each time. They said, 'It's just a voice job, it's not a big deal'. I actually found negotiating with them through my agent impossible. And I didn't really wanna do it that much. But I would have done it."