While most of the cast of the original Magic Mike returned for the sequel, one actor, noticeably absent from the follow-up was Alex Pettyfer, who played "The Kid" in the original film. While there are numerous business reasons for why this was, the reason is none of those things. Pettyfer says he wasn’t asked back because of personal issues between him and the franchise star Channing Tatum.
While you’d expect personal problems to result in a lot of finger pointing between the two parties, that doesn’t appear to be happening here. Pettyfer is actually pointing the finger at himself, at least for some of the issues.
Channing Tatum does not like me, and for many reasons — many being my own fault.
The comments came on Bret Easton Ellis’ B.E.E. Podcast. According to Pettyfer, Tatum never wanted the young actor cast in the role to begin with, as Pettyfer apparently had already built something of a reputation for being difficult to work with. The reputation led Pettyfer to mostly keep his mouth shut on set, in order to avoid upsetting people, but this appears to have had the opposite effect as it instead led people to think Pettyfer thought he was too good to talk to them.
The problems did not end when filming wrapped either. Alex Pettyfer and his girlfriend moved into a new apartment following the movie which was owned by a friend of Channing Tatum’s. They didn’t stay a full month because of allergy issues Pettyfer had with the place, but Tatum’s friend wanted a full month’s rent, which the actor ended up refusing to pay. He now admits that was the wrong move and he should have paid it. Pettyfer was dealing with the death of a family member and so ignored the issue for a while. Eventually, Tatum stepped in to try and resolve the issue, apparently sending Pettyfer a pretty negative email, which Pettyfer then responded to in a less than positive way himself.
For his part the actor denies the rumors that he’s difficult to work with, rather he insists the difficulty comes with the film’s promotion later because he hates the flying that is required to do media appearances.
Ultimately Pettyfer says Channing Tatum was looking for a reason not to like him, though it appears the actor gave the man who will be Gambit plenty of reasons. "The Kid" calls Channing Tatum "an incredible influence," so he really does seem to be apologetic about the issues. Actors not getting along is hardly a new phenomenon, though it’s always upsetting to see. Hopefully, these two can put their issues behind them at some point down the road. Though it likely won’t be for Magic Mike 3.
