Hollywood actor James McAvoy has refuted claims that he is set to star in the reboot of The Chronicles of Narnia franchise.
The Scottish actor, 43, was part of the first instalment of the adaptation of C.S. Lewis' novels - 2005 hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
McAvoy played man-goat hybrid Mr Tumnus, who befriends Lucy Pevensie (Georgie Henley) and Aslan ( Liam Neeson ) forces in the bid to end the White Witch's reign, played by Tilda Swinton, over Narnia.
But McAvoy did not reprise the role for the follow-up films - Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) - as his Hollywood career started to flourish after the release of the first instalment.
In a recent interview with GQ, the former Shameless star was asked whether he has been contacted about a potential return for Netflix's reboot of the franchise, which has garnered over $1.5 billion (£1.25 billion) worldwide, to which he abruptly replied: "Have they f***!"
In October 2018, Netflix announced a "multi-year" deal with films and series based on the books of Narnia.
Ted Sarandos, now CEO of Netflix, said at the time of the announcement: "C.S. Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world.
"Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come."
McAvoy's Hollywood career exploded after his appearance alongside Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar for Best Actor, in Last King of Scotland and as the lead in Academy Award-nominated Atonement.
It was not long after the two critically-acclaimed films that he entered the Marvel world as the younger version of Patrick Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier. He made four X-Men movies between 2011 and 2019 and there has been recent speculation of talks with Marvel president Kevin Feige coming back.
McAvoy said: "I’ve definitely not got the call. And if I did I would definitely not be telling you."
He added: "It was one of the most positive experiences I've had with a studio. I don't really [see them as just] money gigs. Days of Future Past I think is one of the better films that I've been involved in.
"My biggest criticism of what we did throughout the four movies was that after the first movie, we didn't take advantage of the relationship between [Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto], which really formed the backbone of the first film. So it was like, why did we just eject that massive weapon?"
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