Why Channing Tatum Has ANOTHER New Love Interest In Magic Mike 3

Mike has a new love interest & things get steamy between them. Why does Mike have a new romance? We break down why Zoe & Brooke aren't around anymore.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Magic Mike’s Last Dance

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is the final film in the Magic Mike trilogy, and with it comes another love interest for Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who returns for the first time since Magic Mike, the third film includes a steamy lap dance, and Salma Hayek Pinault, who portrays Mike’s leading lady. However, this go-around in love is a lot different for Mike than in previous films.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance finds Mike in a rough place. The pandemic tanked his furniture business, and he no longer strops for a living, but he’s whisked away to London to direct a stage show for Maxandra Mendoza, who owns The Rattigan theater and is the wife of a media mogul. The sequel is set a few years following the events of Magic Mike XXL, and it establishes that Mike and romantic relationships don’t seem to work out for him. Neither Cody Horn’s Brooke nor Amber Heard's Zoe return for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, but Mike has a spark with Maxandra and the film is focused quite a bit on their romance.

Max Is Mike's First Real Love, Not Brooke Or Zoe

While Mike was in a relationship with Brooke in Magic Mike, the beginning of Magic Mike XXL quickly reveals that Brooke turned down Mike’s proposal. Heard’s character, Zoe, a struggling artist who was road-tripping with her own friends, was thus introduced in the sequel. Though Zoe and Mike flirted and had a connection, they never began a full-fledged relationship. Magic Mike’s Last Dance changes Mike’s perspective on love, bringing him out of his funk and into the arms of Maxandra. Hayek’s Max is written and shown to be Mike’s first real love in the Magic Mike franchise.

Unlike Brooke, Max believes in Mike’s stripping career and sees the potential in him to do something with it on a bigger scale. The two have plenty of sexual tension, but their romance digs a bit deeper than either of Mike’s previous love interests. Maxandra sees the best in Mike, and vice versa. They may quibble often, but there is an underlying passion that fuels them both, and they challenge each other in a way that allows them to grow as people. Max and Mike’s romance is far more genuine and meaningful than anything he’s experienced before.

Why Zoe & Brooke Never Returned In Magic Mike's Sequels

Back in 2014, Horn revealed that she would not return for Magic Mike XXL, stating that the sequel’s story had “no room for a girlfriend” in it. Considering XXL was a road trip movie and Zoe’s breakup with Mike was one of the catalysts for joining his friends on one last adventure together, it makes sense why Horn’s character was essentially written out of the Magic Mike sequel. As for why Heard didn’t return as Zoe, there is no concrete reason beyond that the film’s story, as with Brooke, didn’t call for her presence in the narrative.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is primarily set in London, and even Mike’s stripper friends, the Kings of Tampa, are only featured in a quick Zoom call. Magic Mike’s Last Dance is all about taking Mike’s experience as a stripper to the next level and finding love with Maxandra. Featuring Zoe, someone Mike had a surface-level relationship with, wouldn’t have worked. With Maxandra being Mike’s deepest relationship in the franchise, Magic Mike’s Last Dance needed a new actress to fill the role, giving Tatum's character the happy ending he’s always wanted without recycling old love interests to do it.

More: Magic Mike's Last Dance Review: Tatum's Still Got It In Underwhelming Conclusion