An actor who leaked his obscure role in Nintendo’s then-top-secret Super Mario Bros. Movie has said he’s yet to hear whether he’s coming back for the sequel.
Actor and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco played Mario’s foreman boss Spike in the Super Mario Bros. Movie – a fact he let slip more than a year before the film was released, before Nintendo had shown anything of the project publicly.
The random announcement by Maniscalco – and the deep cut nature of the character’s inclusion (Spike appeared in NES game Wrecking Crew back in 1985, and little else since) made headlines. Perhaps Nintendo is keen to keep things more tight-lipped this time around?
Indeed, Maniscalco says he doesn’t rate his chances for a return in the Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel – though not because of his previous statements. Instead, he says, it’s because there’s yet to be a stuffed toy of him.
“We went to Universal Studios and they had a Super Mario store with all the merchandise,” Maniscalco recently told ScreenRant. “I was with my kids, I go, ‘Guys, come on. I’m going to show you daddy’s character in a stuffed animal.’ No Spike, no nothing. It stopped at me. It was every other character, and then me, I have no animal, no stuffy, no nothing.
“So, the fact that I didn’t have a stuffed animal is not giving me a lot of confidence that I’m coming back for the sequel,” he continued. “I haven’t heard anything, so your guess is as good as mine.”
Spike could easily be featured in a sequel should Nintendo want to. After all, that post-credits teaser was set back in Mario and Luigi’s native Brooklyn, where Spike lived.
But, as yet, Nintendo is still to say exactly what its plans for the next Mario movie are. Due to launch in April 2026, rumours abound that the sequel will focus on Donkey Kong this time around – although, as Eurogamer previously rounded up, there are plenty of dangling plot threads from the Super Mario Bros. Movie which could point to sequels.
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