10 stars who walked away from successful movie franchises and why

After the success of "The Fast and the Furious" in 2001, it was almost a given that the franchise would continue. But Vin Diesel decided not to return for the sequel, despite it being a role he said he was offered $25 million for.

During a Hashtag Legend interview in 2017, Diesel said he didn't want to ruin the legacy of the first film as his reason for not joining the cast of "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003).

"If we 'sequelized' it the way studios were doing at the time, just slapping a story together, I'd ruin the chance of that first one becoming a classic," Diesel said.

Of course, Diesel returned to the franchise with a small cameo in "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006) and rejoined the main cast in the rest of the "Fast & Furious" films.

After playing Finn in the latest "Star Wars" trilogy, John Boyega shared via an Instagram comment that he was done with the franchise, telling a fan he had "moved on."

"Not into playing one role for too long," Boyega said. "I have more to offer than that. That's all."

In an interview with GQ, Boyega elaborated on his separation from the franchise, revealing that he felt his experience was different from that of his costars because of race.

"What I say to Disney is do not market a black character as important and then push them aside," said Boyega.

"Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f--- all. So what do you want me to say?"

"What they want you to say is, 'I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience...' Nah, nah, nah," he continued. "I'll take that deal when it's a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let's be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I'm not exposing anything."

Tim Burton's "Batman" films have become cult classics, as have Michael Keaton's performances as the iconic superhero.

After playing Batman in "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992), Keaton said he stepped away from the franchise after Burton was replaced with director Joel Schumacher.

In 2017, Keaton told The Hollywood Reporter that Schumacher wanted to take the series in a different direction and the script for the third film in the series "sucked."

"I knew it was in trouble when he [Schumacher] said, 'Why does everything have to be so dark?'"

Val Kilmer replaced Keaton in "Batman Forever" (1995) and George Clooney tackled the role in "Batman & Robin" (1997).

Sean Connery played James Bond in five movies from 1962 to 1967. He was the first actor to play the character in film.

However, in 1969, he decided not to return to play Bond in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and was replaced by George Lazenby.

According to Vanity Fair, Connery had tension with producer Albert R. Broccoli, including disagreements over salary.

Prior to his departure, he insulted the Bond character in a 1964 interview.

"Remove the exotic touches and what have you got?" Connery said. "A dull, prosaic English policeman."

Connery would return to play Bond in the 1971 film "Diamonds Are Forever" and in 1983 with "Never Say Never Again" before separating from the franchise.

Macaulay Culkin made a name for himself by starring in the classic holiday films "Home Alone" (1990) and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992).

He quit the franchise — and acting altogether — before the third installment, leaving the role open for Alex D. Linz.

According to Uproxx, Culkin was set to film a third "Home Alone" movie at the same time as "Lost in New York." By the time the third one was set to film, Culkin was a teenager who was going through family struggles that ultimately led him to quit acting.

As a teenager, he recalled to Metro in 2020, he pursued legal action and "legally took my parents' names off of my trust fund and found an executor, someone who would look over my finances."

In 2018, Culkin said on the "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast that his father was "physically and mentally abusive" as a result of being "jealous" of his son's success and that the "divorce" from his parents helped him leave the industry.

"I wanted to take a break for a while and eventually I was like, 'I'm done guys, hope you all made your money because there is no more coming from me,'" Culkin said.

Matt Damon starred as Jason Bourne in the trilogy of films between 2002 and 2007.

However, when director Paul Greengrass chose not to direct the fourth installment in the franchise, Damon went with him. The fourth "Bourne" film was made in 2012 without Greengrass and Damon, starring Jeremy Renner as the lead character.

Yet in 2016, Damon and Greengrass returned to make "Jason Bourne." Damon explained to The New York Times why the pair changed their minds about the franchise.

"I was completely at peace with the three movies, and I was so happy with how good they were and what the whole franchise had done for my career and my life," Damon said.

After visiting the production offices, Damon said, he felt a change of heart and felt he had a duty to his fans.

He added, "But when I saw their production offices, it hurt me in a way that surprised me … At a certain point, I said to Paul, 'People really want to see this movie, and that's not something to turn our noses up at.'''

In 1987, Peter Weller helped launch the "Robocop" franchise by starring as the titular character.

The film's success led to a sequel, which Weller also starred in. However, when the third installment in the franchise was set to shoot, Weller chose to work on the film adaptation of one of his favorite novels "Naked Lunch" over "Robocop."

In his place, Robert Burke took on the role. The franchise went on to have two more films and multiple television series.

Although there were rumors that Weller would make an appearance in the upcoming "Robocop Returns," his management team confirmed on Super Bro Movies that he was not interested in returning to the franchise

From 1984 to 2003, action-hero turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in three "Terminator" films.

In 2009, when news of a fourth installment in the franchise was announced, Schwarzenegger had already transitioned to life as governor of California. He wouldn't leave office until 2011.

After the completion of his second term as governor, Schwarzenegger eventually returned to the franchise in 2015 in "Terminator Genisys"

He told ScreenRant that he always said he'd be interested in doing another "Terminator" movie "if the story is great" and he enjoyed this film's script.

He appeared in the series again in 2019 in "Terminator: Dark Fate."

Starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom, the first three films in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise were hits.

However, when the fourth film "On Stranger Tides" was in development, it was announced that neither Knightley nor Bloom would return to reprise their roles.

In an interview with MTV in 2010, Bloom responded to questions about returning to play Will Turner with, "No, definitely not. I think Will is sort of swimming around with the fish at the bottom of the ocean. I had a great time making those movies. I just really wanted to do different things."

The franchise went on to have two more films, with a reboot currently in production.

Knightley played Elizabeth Swann in four "Pirates of the Caribbean" films from 2003 to 2017.

Fresh from starring in "Bend it Like Beckham," she became one of the most beloved characters in the Disney franchise at 18 years old. Knightley said she didn't expect the overwhelming success of the movie.

After the third film, "Dead Men Tell No Tales," produced Jerry Bruckheimer said fans demanded Knightley return to the screen.

But Knightley said she wanted to take a step back from the stardom that came with the franchise and focus on different roles.

"I still say I understand how unbelievably lucky I was to be in a position to get to be in those incredibly big blockbusters," she said on the podcast "Channel Connects" earlier this year. "But it was never what I wanted from the profession. It was always getting to do those characters that are complicated, interesting, strange."